Dr. Eugene Kwon of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota

[cesces]

Dr. Eugene Kwon seems like a very good Doc. He has some impressive Youtube videos.

Does anyone here use him?

Do you have any recommendations on how to schedule a first appointment with him at Mayo?

Thanks

[Dachshundlove]

His prostate cancer practice is enormous. He collaborates with medical oncologists and utilizes a team approach to treating his many patients.

I think the most important characteristic for any DR in treating any complex disease is open mindedness. Without a learning mindset a DR can become stuck in the past—I’d say Kwon is very willing to assimilate new insights as they emerge. All the good Drs learn from each other. So it’s most important that you access care from Drs who are collaborative and willing to learn from others.

[cesces]

Hmmm

Someone posted this about an hour ago, then deleted this:

"You will have to take his choline-11 scan for him to see you. And he will declare something a metastasis, even with very light uptake, without corroboration by traditional imaging, which is pretty aggressive. In that respect I think he would..."

If this is true, I would like to hear more about it.

And I would like to hear if anyone might disagree with it.

[DarkEnergy in reply to cesces]

Why and who deleted then post?

[cesces in reply to DarkEnergy]

The person who posted it told me that he had second thoughts about his harsh language.

[Pleroma in reply to cesces]

I use Dr. Kwon. I was referred to him by a Mayo urologist who said Kwon would give me the best chance of fighting the PC. I think you can just call his office to get an appointment.

I assume MRI is "traditional" imaging, and it has its place, but if you really want to see what is going on, the PET choline scan or GA-68 PSMA is the best way to go. He does both. Someone on this forum took both and have reported there is not much difference between the two.

He was very careful with me about whether he thought a light uptake was a met or not. I don't understand the negative post.

He is a bundle of hope and enthusiasm. He has to work with a medical oncologist for many of the treatments, but as someone says, let him be your coach rather than the M.O. He works with a really good radiation oncologist at Mayo. Rochester Mayo does not have a specialist PC only oncologist, so he uses someone who includes PC in their portfolio. This is one thing I would say Mayo Rochester needs to improve on: They need an oncologist who lives and breathes PC day in and day out.

This is not to say their M.O.'s are second rate, but they need to move toward the PC specialist soonest.

Kwon is one of the best to have at the beginning of your treatment, in my opinion, and yes, he does think outside the box. I will take that kind of person over any staid, tunnel-visioned M.O. who follows flow charts and the prescribed sequence of treatments.

All the best.

[cesces in reply to Pleroma]

"He was very careful with me about whether he thought a light uptake was a met or not. I don't understand the negative post."

I think depending on your emotional state, that might be one way to interpret his approach to diagnosis and treatment.

I think I like that approach myself.

[Hidden in reply to DarkEnergy]

I wrote the post and changed my mind. I’m not a professional so obviously I shouldn’t be stating opinions. My point was, which seems to be left off here, is that calling something a metastatic lesion with very light uptake, almost imperceptible (the radiology term is “indeterminate”) without the benefit of any other diagnostic corroboration can be very helpful to the patient for getting very early treatment, which is of course dependent somewhat on insurance. You have to call it metastatic, then say the radiation is palliative, for the insurance company to pay. Some doctors aren’t willing to go that far. So in my case, it was radiated, whether everyone really thought it was an “isolated osseous metastasis” or not. Probably, and I say “probably” because I don’t know shit from shinola, that was helpful to me, particularly if it really was metastatic.

Notwithstanding that I do think it is dickish to quote a deleted reply. Many of us have second thoughts on a subject

[cesces in reply to Hidden]

When I quoted, I didn't identify it's source.

In was anonymized.

You are the one who chose to de-anonymize yourself.

So what is your issue with me???

"Notwithstanding that I do think it is dickish to quote a deleted reply"

Are you sure you aren't projecting with the name calling?

Again, it was done without attribution.

Reconsider maybe deleting this second message?

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Totally agree. It was yours to post and yours to delete.

[Dachshundlove in reply to cesces]

He uses the choline scan. I believe the PSMA is a new option in the MN location as well (not sure about the others)

We have had to request a pelvic MRI when a choline scan showed activity in the pelvis post treatment.

[Dachshundlove in reply to cesces]

I would say Kwon’s approach is super aggressive. He isn’t a one-thing-at-a-time but rather, hit it very hard and ideally early, wherever possible.

I’d say that this approach IS evidenced based.

and he IS a controversial figure in PC…

[dhccpa in reply to cesces]

He's drawn some negative comments in the past.

[Twig4 in reply to dhccpa]

If he has drawn some negative comments….I can assure you they are not a patient of Dr Kwon’s. I have never heard a negative comment about the man or his practice from someone that is actually his patient or has been seen by him. Many men sitting in his waiting room at Mayos may not be alive today had they not been seen by Dr. Eugene Kwon and they are the first to tell you that.

[dhccpa in reply to Twig4]

Sorry. I should have been more clear. I was going from memory, but I thought that someone on this forum had dissed him, more than once, in the past, before I really knew who he is. If correct, a search should yield them. I meant no disrespect to Dr. Kwon. He sounds like someone I'd like to learn more about.

[Hidden in reply to dhccpa]

You are correct. TallAllen has dogged him pretty well in the past, mostly for using the Choline-11 scan, even to the point of suggesting different Minnesota doctors are better choices for care. But, I notice his star is rising, perhaps with all the videos he is doing, with other big dogs like Scholz and Moyad, so the criticism has cooled lately I noticed.

[dhccpa in reply to Hidden]

Ahhh ok. I hoped I wasn't imagining things, but these days anything is possible.

[Twig4]

We were fortunate enough to have been introduced to Dr. Kwon’s practice through a friend and now my husband is lucky enough to be a patient of his. We can not say enough wonderful things about this sincerely caring, genuinely concerned and compassionate physician/man. From the very first moment you meet Dr. Kwon you realize he is an out of the box thinker and with advanced prostate cancer he is the guy you want coaching your team. When you think there just is not another option out there…Dr. Kwon comes up with another treatment plan. The guy is BEYOND amazing! If unfortunately you are at a point in your disease you need to step it up to the next level….Dr. Kwon is the one and only! An amazing physician and gentleman. On our first visit to Mayo there was a billboard along the road stating “I beat cancer twice……thank you Dr. Kwon”. Not many patients rent a billboard and thank their physician in that manner. My husband and I saw the sign and we knew we were at the right place and seeing the best of the best.

[Runner4000]

I have been a regular patient of Dr. Kwon for about 20 years. I have great respect for him and his staff. I have had many Choline Pet scans and more recent PSMA scans. The radiology department specialists at Mayo first analyze and comment in detail on the scans and highlight areas of special relevance. Then Dr. Kwon carefully reviews these particularly relevant portions and discusses potential next steps. I carefully listen to his views; he listens to mine; we agree on next steps, and move ahead as a team. I do not at all understand the second-hand, negative comment mentioned above. From my perspective it is completely erroneous .

[cesces in reply to Runner4000]

"I do not at all understand the second-hand, negative comment mentioned above."

Dr. Kwon appears to be very thorough.

If you have metastasis, he will find it.

It's not unusual for humans to blame the messenger for bad news.

As someone who is often the messenger of unwelcome facts, I personally experience that myself.

Personally, I always prefer truth to fantasy. Not everyone does so.

[Don_1213 in reply to Runner4000]

The fact that you've been a patient of Dr. Kwon for 20 years speaks volumes about his competence. 👍

[dhccpa]

Does one have to actually go to Minnesota to see him, or can one just coordinate through the local oncologist to Dr. Kwon?

[Nusch in reply to dhccpa]

You can contact Mayo clinic, create an account for the APP, send all data and coordinate a telco with Dr. Kwon. So did I.

[FrankyB4]

I am up in Canada. I watched those same Youtube videos early on the morning of October 1. I am oligo recurrent- psma determined. I had been watching Dr. Kwon's career since I was first diagnosed in 2011. I emailed Dr. Kwon at 450 am on October 1. I was being advised here that they weren't sure it was a met at C6 and being advised against SBRT. My neck pain, I was told, was unrelated to the spot at C6. He responded at 724 am. He arranged for radiologists to review my PSMA and MRI and I then had a telephone consultation with him on Oct 18. He involved a RO, Dr. Stish, who wrote me a very helpful note. I arranged SBRT here that took place on Nov 15 and 16. Still too early to know what my future holds but my neck pain seems better. I cannot tell you how generous Dr. Kwon was to us. His decency is apparent. Moreover, he is current in his knowledge, not wedded to 80 year old approaches to dealing with PC and a fierce advocate for his patients. I am not exaggerating when I say that some doctors are 10 years behind Dr. Kwon on how they deal with PC. Best of luck. As Dr. Kwon advises, you have to take control of your own health care. The heterogeneity of PC makes that doubly important.

[cesces in reply to FrankyB4]

"not wedded to 80 year old approaches to dealing with PC and a fierce advocate for his patients. I am not exaggerating when I say that some doctors are 10 years behind Dr. Kwon on how they deal with PC"

Yes. It would seem he is a worthy successor to Dr. Snuffy Myers.

[Hidden in reply to cesces]

"A worthy successor to Dr. Snuffy Myers?" B.S.!!!!

[cesces in reply to Hidden]

Nameless999, please explain.

Have you listened to his YouTubes?

What am I missing? What do the rest of us need to understand before entrusting our lives to Dr. Kwon?

[Survivor1965]

Saw Euge for 4 years. When we met I was Gleason 9 and very scared. He told me he was going to throw a nuclear bomb on a dandelion, and he did. He tailored a specific plan for ME. He does not believe in standard of care. He saved my life, and one the greatest and most charismatic people I have ever met. Mic drop

[RJ-MN]

I live near Rochester and had my prostate cancer handled directly by Mayo/Rochester from its diagnosis in 2006 until 2017 when I was assigned to the regional Mayo clinic in my small city 40 miles away. I have heard Dr. Kwon speak twice in person and have watched numerous video lectures by him; he is personable and gives hope. However, I have also emailed his office three times (using an address he offers) asking for an appointment, and I have never received a response of any kind. It is a bit difficult to understand as my full records are at Mayo. Since I have progressed through all of Mayo's protocols there may be nothing in addition that Dr. Kwon could offer anyway, but it would have been respectful to at least have been responded to (and, yes, I mean by his administrative staff; I don't expect Dr. Kwon to handle inquiries!). For those of you who have gained contact with Dr. Kwon, good for you. May you continue to benefit from his expertise!

[Don_1213 in reply to RJ-MN]

The saying "Never call malice on an action that can be explained by incompetence" comes to mind - not that you're calling anything malice..

A thought - have you tried calling their office? After 3 emails with no replies I'd be suspicious that your emails haven't been seen. As we used to explain to people when email first emerged from the primordial digital sea - email has no guarantee of delivery. It's possible your email are going to the spam filter (spam filters are not perfect by any means, the more aggressive ones will filter out entire sending domains - like yahoo - because of receiving spam from what appears to be a yahoo address) or the email address is dead and buried, and their system is purposely set to not send a "message can't be delivered" email back to you.

In general - best bet - if you get no reply - start looking for numbers to call. You probably won't find Dr. Kwon's phone number, but bet with a bit of work you can find one for his office staff, and they're the people who will do things like make appointments. Dr. Kwon says you're responsible for your own treatment - and I would think that applies to even getting in touch with him. I've noticed a startling lack of competence in general in medical offices.

Good luck getting through..

[Runner4000]

I should add that Dr. Kwon has been very willing to hear and discuss other points of view. I have discussed with him second opinions I have received from Mayo oncologists, MD Anderson, U of Chicago and other institutions. He also is quite aware of the ongoing trials and developments with Lutetium 177 and a wide variety of immunotherapy studies. No person or institution is perfect, but I have been very pleased with my experience with Dr. Kwon.

[j-o-h-n]

Are the doctor's initial treatments of his patients as easy as Kwon, two three?....

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Monday 12/20/2021 10:40 PM EST

[Jackpine]

I’ve been with Dr. Kwon for 8 yrs. In fact seeing him tomorrow. He understands this disease very well and does use all treatments available to him. He treat aggressively, and looks for new treatments. He will work with you for the best treatment plan that you can also use for a second opinion.

[TheWizardofWesley]

I have used him and he is brilliant, understanding and truly caring. I called the Mayo Clinic in Rochester and said I want to set up an appointment with Dr.Kwon I was told what was necessary and I forwarded the information. It took quite a bit of time to be added to his schedule 📅 BUT it came to pass. I had my first PET scan with Choline and a consult. He spent about an hour with me. I had a 6 month follow up and then I went to The Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville FL Had a PSMA PET scan and sadly got news I was not expecting. Seems that my 3 mets that were consumed by my marrow and in all sense dead.. gave way to about 20+ mets all over the place.. 😞.I took 5 chemo treatments Docetaxel.. with negitive results and I re scared here at Moffitt after a fight , because they had no Pluvicto to offer me.. but I pulled a hat trick and I have 6 doses reserved for me here in Fl at Moffitt. So it's saving me six trips to MN.. and a lot of $$$. Hopefully I will do better on Pluvicto than I did on Chemo. Good luck to you.. and let Dr.Kwon know the guy with the crazy pants from Tampa Bay says Hello!