While websurfing PCa topics the other night, I came across Dr. Jonathan Epstein's name, the well-known PCa authority on the faculty at Johns Hopkins, where he has been since 1985.
He is likely best known for the second-opinion reviews he does on PCa biopsy slides submitted to him, but as his resume shows, he is very accomplished in many other aspects of the field of PCa as well:
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/results/directory/profile/0002004/jonathan-epsteinWe have all heard the phrase "sending slides to Dr. Epstein for second opinion." But how exactly does that happen? Well, according to this Malecare site write-up, it looks like it's really a pretty simple thing to do:
https://malecare.org/second-opinion-on-biopsy-slides/From this write-up:
"Ask your primary urologist, consultant or doctor to help you locate a well regarded pathology department and have your biopsy slides sent there for a second opinion. If you live in the USA, we have listed six highly regarded pathology labs, below, including our favorite at Johns Hopkins.
First: Get your biopsy slides from your urologist or the hospital. The slide belong to you…there shouldn’t be any objection to you in getting a second opinion.
You can have your doctor or hospital send them out for a second opinion or you can take them and Fed Ex or UPS them to the address below. If you’re personally sending them, make sure that they’re encased in bubble wrap and that you send a return address (or return addressed envelope).
1. Johns Hopkins Hospital/ Baltimore, Maryland
Call Dr. Jonathan Epstein’s Assistant:
Jacqueline Bacon (410) 614-6330
She’ll give you all the info you need re sending slides to Dr. Epstein.
Send slides to:
Dr. Jonathan Epstein
Johns Hopkins Medical Laboratories
1620 McElderry St.
Reed Hall Rm 315
Baltimore, MD 21205
Fax (410) 614-7712
Phone (410) 955-2405
8 am – 5 pm
Normal LAB hours are:
5:30 am – 4:30 pm Mon-Fri
Include a cover letter stating that you would like a review of your recent biopsy by Dr. Epstein ... Be sure to say that you would like the pathology report to be sent to you, and, if you wish, to your current urologist. Also state where you would like your slides to be sent, after Dr. Epstein has completed his report. Be sure to include all of your contact info, including your phone number and email."Seems simple enough. And I'm a little surprised that we can do this ourselves, if we wish, apparently, without having to go through a doctor.
Something else I was wondering about
is whether the volume of slides and requests that Dr. Epstein probably gets, and probably daily, for his services, gets to be overwhelming. But I suspect it's the case that he has a streamlined operation set up, where assistants process slides for his review, preparing them, setting up the microscopes in a row. etc., so that all the doctor has to do is walk down the series of microscopes, looking quickly into each one, describing what he sees, while an assistant writes that down, and then the doctor moves on to the next microscope, etc. He's probably got a going concern for looking at slides, honed from years of experience.
Or, maybe he really does look at each submission personally, to insure that no mix-up between samples occurs. This in spite of the time it may take from his other duties.
And so far I have seen no mention of any fee he charges for doing these reviews, unless I missed it.
In any case, it's good that an expert of Dr. Epstein's stature makes his expertise available in this way, and that the procedure for doing it is relatively convenient and surprisingly available.