Dr. Pranshu Mohindra joined the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in July 2014 as an assistant professor in a clinician-scientist role. His primary area of clinical and research interest is in thoracic/lung, gynecological and hemato-lymphoid malignancies.
Dr. Mohindra has received several academic excellence, research and travel awards during his residency including the 2014 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Roentgen Resident/Fellow Award for outstanding radiologic research and the 2014 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Resident Digital Poster Discussion Award in the Biology category. He also served as the Chief resident for the year 2013-14.
Education 1997 – 2003: M.B.B.S, Dr D Y Patil Medical College, University of Mumbai, India
2004 – 2007: M.D., Tata Memorial Hospital, University of Mumbai, India
Aleasha Arthur has over a decade of experience as a Director of Human Resources at Unity Health Care, Inc. in Washington, DC. She is also a mother of two, a partner in a publishing company, Next Level Publishing, and a realtor.
Aleasha is a graduate of The New England Arts Institute, formerly known as Northeast College of Communication. She also completed the Human Resources certificate program at George Mason University and holds certificates in leadership development. As a community advocate, she has also volunteered and served as Maryland Prince Georges County Greenbelt Boys and Girls Club President.
Aleasha was featured in the WHO’s WHO Publishing Magazine being recognized as a distinguished African-American Leader in The District of Columbia as an HR professional and as an entrepreneur in the field of Literary Publishing. Since being diagnosed with sarcoma cancer in March 2016, Aleasha has undergone two surgeries and has completed radiation therapy at the Maryland Proton Treatment Center in Baltimore MD in October 2016 .
While in treatment, Aleasha created Rise Against Cancer (RAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing resources and various cancer information to patients and their caregivers across the globe.
Twitter: @ra_cancer
Instagram: @riseagainstcancer
Hi, Thank you for all of your questions and for listening to the show. Please note answers below – Dr. Mohindra
I Have what first appeared to be a bump on the lower back in the center. It has an itch to it and won’t go away. I just had my female checkup and showed it to the doctor. I was told that it was opened and the doctor suggested I see a dermatologist. Do you think I should see someone to check for cancer?
Hello. From your description, this seems to be a cyst that may have opened to the skin. If your doctor has already examined it, meeting with a dermatologist as recommended is a good idea. Preferably, the appointment should be arranged sooner rather than later, maybe in the next 1-2 weeks. If the dermatologist is concerned they can sometime biopsy in their clinic itself to rule out a cancer. Sometimes the cyst can be deeper and then may require referral to a different specialists. As you wait for these appointments to be scheduled, should the bump enlarge, then you should bring it your doctor’s attention right away.
I was just denied my third appeal for proton therapy….I was diagnosed in July at MD Anderson with stage1 prostate cancer. How difficult was it to get the insurance company to approve that type of radiation?
I am sorry for your cancer diagnosis but admire you for getting a doctor’s evaluation to find your cancer at such an early stage. It can sometimes be a challenge to get approval for proton treatments since it is a relatively new form of treatment. There are ongoing clinical trials which are evaluating the benefits of protons in a systematic manner for a variety of clinical situations.
Prostate cancer is one of the very common forms of cancer treated with protons and many patients have undergone or are undergoing proton treatment for prostate cancer at our center. When we face a scenario where the insurance company has denied proton treatment, and if based on clinical evaluation we feel that proton treatment is medically necessary, then we file appeals with the insurance company, often providing a letter of medical necessity with details about proton treatment designs or requesting a medical doctor peer-to-peer review.
To make this even more feasible, some newer proton centers are following a cost-neutral approach. For instance, at Maryland Proton Treatment Center and Univ. of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore, the cost billed to the insurance company for proton treatment is same as the standard photon-based radiation therapy.
This allows us to appeal the insurance company to allow treatments that are best for a patient. You may discuss this option with your doctors at MD Anderson Cancer Center. If you would like to explore local options in Maryland, you may also get additional information at www.mdproton.com. One of our patient representatives can evaluate your insurance plan and arrange for a consultation with the specialist to explore this further.
There are some situations, where despite the medical appeal, proton insurance is denied. In such situation, it would be important to have a detailed discussion with your doctor with the current standard form of radiation treatment with X-rays or photons, which is the most common form of treatment for prostate cancer in the U.S. Also you could explore other options such as brachytherapy for your early stage prostate cancer.
My husband recently received IMRT for a poster fossa meningioma. We tried to get insurance approval from a newly opened proton therapy facility that opened in Cincinnati but the claim was denied. Do you think we had trouble getting approval because we tried to go with a newly established facility? Do you find that it is difficult to get approval for proton therapy?
I am sorry for your husband’s diagnosis of meningioma and congratulate both of you to have completed his treatment as recommended by your doctors. It is unlikely that the insurance was denied because the facility in Cincinnati is new. It is my understanding that the proton center is affiliated with the highly respectable Univ. of Cincinnati Medical Center and care is provided through the expert team of academic faculty at Univ. of Cincinnati.
As noted in my response above, many insurance plans do not have proton treatment as an approved modality and often times require a medical peer-to-peer. Like with prostate cancer, at Maryland Proton Treatment Center and Univ. of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center, we are routinely treating patients with tumors in the brain or head-neck region with protons to limit the radiation to multiple critical organs in the location.
This is especially important for children and young adults but also for older adults. However, sometimes despite the medical appeals the insurance is denied, in which case we too recommend treatment with the standard form of radiation treatment. IMRT or Intensity Modulated Radiotherapy is also a very precise form of radiation therapy that uses X-rays or photons.
Since, X-rays don’t have the ability like protons to stop at the location of tumor, your doctor uses multiple treatment beams from many different directions, all of which focus on the tumor area and thereby can reduce the risk of damage to nearby important organs. At this point, since your husband’s treatments are already completed, please do not feel dejected about proton denial. Please maintain regular follow ups with your doctors, which is very important.
Please note that above responses are just to provide a broad overview and should not be taken as a complete medical advice. It is very important to get your concerns examined by a clinician for a more thorough evaluation.
A good resource for general cancer information can be obtained from American Cancer Society’s website:
You can also visit website of the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center
Or about protons at the website of Maryland Proton Treatment Center, affiliated with the Univ. of Maryland Cancer Center.
