Case Discussion 1 – Patient and Treatment Selection

Abhinav Sidana, MD, MPH, is the Director of Prostate Cancer Focal Therapy, Director of GU Clinical Trials Urology Section, and Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences in Chicago, IL. Dr. Sidana earned his MD in 2007 from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Following this, he pursued a post-doctoral Fellowship in Urology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland, during which he focused on translational projects relating to cancer immunotherapy and was instrumental in translating the preclinical work for a clinical trial studying cryo-immunotherapy. Subsequently, he completed his urology residency at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and a urologic oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Sidana’s current clinical practice includes both surgical and non-operative management of prostate, kidney, ureteral, testicular, and bladder cancers. His research interests include functional prostate imaging, image-guided and focal treatments for prostate cancer, and clinical trials on novel treatments for urologic cancers.

Peter K. F. Chiu, MBChB, PhD (Erasmus), FRCSEd (Urol), graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and obtained a fellowship in urology from the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. He received post-graduate training in prostate cancer research and andrology in the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, and obtained a PhD degree in prostate cancer diagnosis. Dr. Chiu is an Associate Professor in the Division of Urology in CUHK. He is the current President of the Hong Kong Urological Association (HKUA).
Dr. Chiu’s clinical practice and research focus is on prostate cancer, including prostate cancer screening, diagnosis with novel biomarkers (prostate health index, urine spermine), MRI-guided targeted prostate biopsy, and focal therapy. He utilizes HIFU, Cryotherapy, and Targeted microwave ablation (TMA) as focal therapy for prostate cancer. He also has special interest in managing patients with advanced prostate cancer with novel treatment options.
Dr. Chiu is a member of the prostate cancer working group of the European Association of Urology (EAU) Young Academic Urologists, and a council member of the Société Internationale d'Urologie (SIU) Academic Research Council and SIU Scientific Program Committee. He is a board member of the Hong Kong Kidney Foundation and editorial board member of the Asian Journal of Andrology and the International Journal of Urology. Dr. Chiu is also an associate editor for Frontiers in Surgery (Genitourinary Surgery) and Grand Rounds in Urology.

Behfar Ehdaie, MD, MPH, is a urologic surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. He earned his medical degree at Georgetown University School of Medicine and then went on to a urology residency at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and a fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Dr. Ehdaie is an expert in minimally invasive surgical techniques for the treatment of urologic cancers, and has a particular interest in novel management of prostate cancer, kidney tumors, and bladder cancer. He has performed more than 500 MRI-guided prostate biopsies and is experienced in doing extensive lymph node removals at the time of prostate surgery. His research is focused on achieving prostate cancer cures while also preserving quality of life, and he is currently the principal investigator on a clinical trial of partial gland ablation that theoretically could allow patients with prostate cancer to receive effective treatment minus side effects like incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Dr. Ehdaie also aims to improve active surveillance by developing a large surveillance clinic that will use advanced imaging and biomarkers to detect cancer progression. Dr. Ehdaie has given presentations on prostate cancer throughout the United States and around the world, and has also published numerous articles and studies in peer-reviewed journals.

Arvin George, MD, serves as Director of Prostate Cancer Programs and Associate Professor (PAR) of Urology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a urologic surgeon who specializes in the diagnosis and management of genitourinary cancers. After obtaining his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, he completed his urology residency at the Smith Institute for Urology at the Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine. He remained there to complete his endourology fellowship in New York, gaining additional subspecialty expertise in robotic, laparoscopic, and percutaneous surgery. Subsequently, he completed a urologic oncology fellowship at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. George’s research interests include minimally-invasive and image-guided treatments, functional prostate imaging, and focal therapy for prostate cancer. His research aims to identify appropriate use for imaging in diagnosis, risk stratification, and management of prostate cancer, including active surveillance and selection/treatment of patients with novel focal therapy modalities.

Preston C. Sprenkle, MD, is an Associate Professor of Urology at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. He also serves as Director of the Urology Research Fellowship and Urologic Oncology Clinical Fellowship Program at Yale, and as Division Chief of Urology in the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Sprenkle has dedicated his career to using the latest imaging technologies to improve diagnosis. He was one of the first physicians nationwide to implement the use of the Artemis Device, and he is also a pioneer in focal therapy. In his practice, Dr. Sprenkle believes in working with patients to come up with individualized treatment plans to minimize the impact of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment on their health and quality of life. His research focuses on biomarkers for prostate and kidney cancer, including the biomarker NGAL for acute kidney injury in surgical patients.

Dr. Samir S. Taneja is the James M. Neissa and Janet Riha Neissa Professor of Urologic Oncology in the Department of Urology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, as well as the Vice Chair of Urology and Director of Urologic Oncology at NYU Langone Health. When Dr. Taneja first joined NYU Langone he focused broadly on urologic oncology, treating people with cancers of the prostate, kidney, bladder, and testis. Now, about 70 percent of his practice focuses on prostate cancer or the suspicion of prostate cancer.

The work Dr. Taneja has been able to conduct at NYU Langone and its Perlmutter Cancer Center and Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center has transformed the field of prostate cancer diagnosis and treatment by improving methods of prostate imaging, cancer detection, and disease localization. Dr. Taneja strives to integrate new technologies into his practice to evolve the practice of oncology. This has allowed him to care for prostate cancer patients individually by avoiding surgery or radiation when not needed, and using new targeted approaches to treat the disease when possible.

Dr. Taneja's clinical research focuses on the use of imaging to detect and treat prostate cancer. He pioneered the use of MRI to diagnose and pinpoint prostate cancer, and in MRI-guided focal ablative therapies that aim to destroy only the cancerous portion of the prostate.

He has authored more than 200 articles, 30 book chapters, and 6 textbooks and monographs on urologic cancer and surgery. In addition, he is the editor of Taneja’s Complications of Urologic Surgery: Prevention and Diagnosis, one of the most widely read textbooks in American urology.