Thanks for posting that. Melodramatic to be sure, not really the style of cancer care advertising I would favor, but that's just a personal preference. (I'm the type who wants to change the channel when a CTCA ad comes on). Also, it's a broad statement that "survival rates are up to 4x the national average", since I'm sure that would depend on staging. There's no doubt that for some cancers (those requiring the best surgeons or radiation techniques) going to a leading educational institution may be critical, but for most Stage IV patients you're not likely to see anywhere near that dramatic a difference. Still, getting an opinion from such a cancer center is never a bad idea, to be certain that you're getting the benefit of the latest research.
I like the energy, but I also just don't like inclusion of marketing-contorted stats that are not credible. I was hoping it was more of a public service announcement for lung cancer than a manipulative puff piece. It's not that there aren't great docs there, but the biology of cancer is the same at the University of Colorado, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MD Anderson, etc. It's not like the rules of biology or the rules of physics are different there.
Apparently this ad is for local, not national, airing. After 10 years of asking, UCH's thoracic division finally got some funding to advertise that they exist - so it's designed to gain more patients. As you can well imagine, the CTCA ads (which make us all nuts) are effective in driving patients, especially in rural areas, to CTCA, so it's frustrating that they might go there instead of to the regional research center, in this case UC Denver, due to lack of advertising and awareness. Marketing aside, the stats in the ad are for Stage IV patients - it's the ratio of Stage IV patients on the UCH registry - only those who are diagnosed or receive their 1st tx at UCH, so pretty rigid inclusion criteria. Here's a link: http://www.uch.edu/conditions/cancer/outcomes/survival-rates/
NCI is very formal about how they present stats, whereas CTCA is not - they start their survival clock when the patient enters their facility regardless of tx elsewhere. In other words their stats are manipulated. Patients like me who are motivated and travel for tx who may be outliers are not included in the UCH stats. On the other hand one might consider that folks in the local Denver area may have same disease biology but due to lifestyle differences may have better survival stats than, say, Kentucky or Oklahoma (maybe number of non-smoker EGFR/ALK mutants in "healthier" parts of the country skewing the data, etc).
I thought the ad was a refreshing change from the "I crawled under a bush to die and CTCA came along and saved my life" type ad. It emphasizes the importance of teaming up with healthcare providers at a major cancer center and staying motivated.
Thanks, Jim and Dr. West for your input. Since I was a patient I'm biased, so I was wondering how this might go over to the lung cancer community at large.
Reply # - November 18, 2013, 05:34 AM
Reply To: Winning the Lung Cancer Fight at Univ of Colorado (ad)
Jazz,
Thanks for posting that. Melodramatic to be sure, not really the style of cancer care advertising I would favor, but that's just a personal preference. (I'm the type who wants to change the channel when a CTCA ad comes on). Also, it's a broad statement that "survival rates are up to 4x the national average", since I'm sure that would depend on staging. There's no doubt that for some cancers (those requiring the best surgeons or radiation techniques) going to a leading educational institution may be critical, but for most Stage IV patients you're not likely to see anywhere near that dramatic a difference. Still, getting an opinion from such a cancer center is never a bad idea, to be certain that you're getting the benefit of the latest research.
JimC
Forum moderator
Reply # - November 18, 2013, 09:28 PM
Reply To: Winning the Lung Cancer Fight at Univ of Colorado (ad)
I like the energy, but I also just don't like inclusion of marketing-contorted stats that are not credible. I was hoping it was more of a public service announcement for lung cancer than a manipulative puff piece. It's not that there aren't great docs there, but the biology of cancer is the same at the University of Colorado, Memorial Sloan-Kettering, MD Anderson, etc. It's not like the rules of biology or the rules of physics are different there.
-Dr. West
Reply # - November 19, 2013, 12:53 PM
Reply To: Winning the Lung Cancer Fight at Univ of Colorado (ad)
Apparently this ad is for local, not national, airing. After 10 years of asking, UCH's thoracic division finally got some funding to advertise that they exist - so it's designed to gain more patients. As you can well imagine, the CTCA ads (which make us all nuts) are effective in driving patients, especially in rural areas, to CTCA, so it's frustrating that they might go there instead of to the regional research center, in this case UC Denver, due to lack of advertising and awareness. Marketing aside, the stats in the ad are for Stage IV patients - it's the ratio of Stage IV patients on the UCH registry - only those who are diagnosed or receive their 1st tx at UCH, so pretty rigid inclusion criteria. Here's a link:
http://www.uch.edu/conditions/cancer/outcomes/survival-rates/
NCI is very formal about how they present stats, whereas CTCA is not - they start their survival clock when the patient enters their facility regardless of tx elsewhere. In other words their stats are manipulated. Patients like me who are motivated and travel for tx who may be outliers are not included in the UCH stats. On the other hand one might consider that folks in the local Denver area may have same disease biology but due to lifestyle differences may have better survival stats than, say, Kentucky or Oklahoma (maybe number of non-smoker EGFR/ALK mutants in "healthier" parts of the country skewing the data, etc).
I thought the ad was a refreshing change from the "I crawled under a bush to die and CTCA came along and saved my life" type ad. It emphasizes the importance of teaming up with healthcare providers at a major cancer center and staying motivated.
Thanks, Jim and Dr. West for your input. Since I was a patient I'm biased, so I was wondering how this might go over to the lung cancer community at large.
Jazz