E. David Crawford, MD

E. David Crawford, MD


Editor-in-Chief, Emeritus
Grand Rounds in Urology
Jack A. Vickers Director of Prostate Research
Professor of Urology
University of California, San Diego

San Diego, California

Researcher-physician E. David Crawford, MD, Jack A. Vickers Director of Prostate Research and Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Diego, has devoted his career in medicine to educating the public about men's health issues and finding effective techniques and procedures to address prostate cancer, the most common malignancy affecting men in the United States.

Dr. Crawford received his medical degree from the University of Cincinnati and his postgraduate training included an internship and residency in urology at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati. He subsequently completed a genitourinary cancer fellowship at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Dr. Crawford is an internationally recognized expert in benign prostate hypertrophy, urologic cancers, and in particular, prostate cancer. He has conducted research in the treatment of advanced bladder cancer, metastatic adenocarcinoma of the prostate, hormone-refractory prostate cancer, and other areas of urological infections and malignancies. He has authored or coauthored over 810 scientific articles, has published seven textbooks, authored over 60 book chapters, and provided more than 2,200 educational talks for patients and physicians.

In an effort to raise public awareness about prostate health, Crawford in 1989 founded the Prostate Conditions Education Council (PCEC). The non-profit organization is comprised of a consortium of leading physicians, health educators, scientists, and men's health advocates. PCEC's advocacy for free or low-cost prostate screening has affected the lives of millions of American men. He currently chairs the PCEC.

Crawford is an active member of many national and international organizations, including the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Urological Association (AUA), and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Within the AUA, he has been a member of the Committee to Study Urologic Research Funding and the prostate cancer clinical trials subcommittee. Crawford served on the board of governors, the scientific advisory board of the Southwest Oncology Group, and was chairman of the Genitourinary Cancer Committee for 27 years. This group is the largest clinical trials group in the world.

Crawford's involvement in the national prostate cancer arena has been widely recognized. He has received many honors and awards, including the CAP Cure Annual Award for Scientific Presentation in 1999 In 1997, he was presented with a 'Freddie Award" at the AMA International Health and Medical Film Competition for the program, ITV: The Cutting Edge Medical Report (Prostate Cancer: Understanding, Diagnosing, and Defeating), which Crawford hosted with special guest, retired General Norman Schwarzkopf.

Crawford again won a prestigious 'Freddie Award" 5 years ago... He is a member of Best Doctors of America and was named Healthcare Provider of the Year in the Denver Metro area by the Denver Business Journal.

He has been recognized as one of the Best Doctors of America for the past two decades and is recognized as one of the top 20 urologists in the country, for men, by Men’s Health Magazine. In 2018 he received the honor of being named the Distinguished Alumnus of the Year from the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine. In May of 2019, he received the Presidential citation from the American Urological Association recognizing for his “tireless role in genitourinary cancer research that has benefited countless urologic cancer patients.” He accepted the position of Editor in Chief of Grand Rounds in Urology in June of 2019. In 2021, he was the recipient of the Merle Stringer, M.D. annual award for excellence in medicine by the Florida State Medical Association.

Disclosures:

Talks by E. David Crawford, MD

Optilume® BPH Catheter System: Optilume® Care Pathway and Treatment Options – Q&A Session

E. David Crawford, MD, Stephen Kaplan, MD, and Kevin T. McVary, MD, FACS, continue their discussion of the utility of the Optilume® BPH Catheter System in this Q&A session.  

To see the main discussion on this topic, click here. This is the second in a series supported by Laborie. To see the first part of this series, click here. For more informational content on the latest developments on men’s health topics like BPH, please visit our Men’s Health Next-Generation Learning Center.

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PET Tumor Board: Case #5

In this discussion, E. David Crawford, MD, Jack A. Vickers Director of Prostate Research and Professor of Urology at the University of California, San Diego, leads a discussion of the case study of a healthy 69-year-old male with a history of multiple BPH treatments presenting with Gleason Grade 2 prostate cancer. He presents this case study to a panel of experts comprised of:

Wayne G. Brisbane, MD – Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Phillip J. Koo, MD – Division Chief of Diagnostic Imaging and Northwest Region Oncology Physician Executive at the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD – Director of Genitourinary Oncology, Professor of Medicine and Urology, Co-Leader of Cancer Signaling Networks, and Co-Director of the Signal Transduction Program at Yale University Cancer Center.

After reviewing the patient’s treatment history, Dr. Crawford informs the panel that the patient initially presented with a PSA of 4.55 ng/ml, his 12 core biopsies were negative after 6 months of treatment, and he was placed on active surveillance post-biopsies. However, the patient returned one year after initial presentation with a PSA of 8.5 ng/ml. Dr. Crawford asks the panel to weigh in on next steps.

Dr. Petrylak recommends pursuing active surveillance based on the patient’s 2.1% Decipher score and the patient’s preference of preserving his quality of life. Dr. Koo suggests using an mpMRI to resolve the discordance between the PSA level and the negative biopsies.

Dr. Crawford shows the results from the patient’s POSLUMA scan which showed focal uptake in the right base of the prostate. Dr. Koo acknowledges that the scan results are promising, but he reminds the panel to be cautious about the sensitivity of PSMA PET before definitive therapy.

Dr. Crawford reveals that the patient had an mpMRI and 12 core biopsies in addition to the POSLUMA scan, all of which confirmed the presence of prostate cancer in the right base. The panel recommends focal therapy as a next step, and discusses the available options for focal therapy.
This is the fifth in a series of discussions on PSMA PET supported by Blue Earth Diagnostics. For the first installment, click here. For the second installment, click here. For the third installment, click here. For the fourth installment, click here.

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Optilume® BPH Catheter System: Optilume® BPH Product and Clinical Data Overview

E. David Crawford, MD, sits down with Dean S. Elterman, MD, MSC, FRCSC, and Stephen Kaplan, MD, to discuss the evolution of BPH treatment and the Optilume® BPH Catheter System, a novel minimally-invasive surgical therapy (MIST). This is the first in a series supported by Laborie.

Dr. Elterman begins with an overview of the Optilume® BPH Drug Coated Balloon Catheter. He presents the components of the system and their utility. He presents a demonstration of the system in action.

Dr. Kaplan presents data from the clinical investigations of the effectiveness of the Optilume® BPH Catheter System. He provides an overview of the results from the EVEREST study and the landmark PINNACLE trial, which was published in the September 2023 issue of the Journal of Urology. He notes that the major benefits of the treatment include significant flow rate improvement despite the lack of tissue removal and low surgical retreatment rates.

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PET Tumor Board: Case #4

In this discussion, E. David Crawford, MD, Professor of Urology and Jack A. Vickers Director of Prostate Research at the University of California, San Diego, leads a discussion of the case study of a healthy 80-year-old male with a history of BPH presenting with a rapid rise of PSA from a PSA of 3-4 ng/ml to 9.7 ng/ml and increased urgency and perception of difficulty fully voiding. He presents this case study to a panel of experts comprised of:
Wayne G. Brisbane, MD – Assistant Professor of Urology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Phillip J. Koo, MD – Division Chief of Diagnostic Imaging and Northwest Region Oncology Physician Executive at the Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD – Director of Genitourinary Oncology, Professor of Medicine and Urology, Co-Leader of Cancer Signaling Networks, and Co-Director of the Signal Transduction Program at Yale University Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut.
After revealing that the patient had a PSA of 7.2 ng/ml after a 4-week course of Cipro, Dr. Crawford tells the panel that his recommendation was for the patient to undergo an mpMRI, with possible biopsies. This revealed that the patient had a 65g prostate with a PI-RADS 5 lesion, and several suspicious pelvic nodes. After 12 core biopsies, each core had a Gleason Score of 4 or 5.
Dr. Crawford then asks the panel to weigh in on the next steps for imaging for the patient. Dr. Petrylak and Dr. Koo both recommend PSMA PET scanning over bone scans as the appropriate next step.
Dr. Crawford presents the results of the patient’s PSMA PET scan, which revealed extensive skeletal disease, to the panel. Dr. Petrylak recommends ADT, and debates the use of doublet or triplet therapy for the patient. Dr. Brisbane points out that the patient’s PSA level does not necessarily reflect the burden of disease, and Dr. Petrylak agrees.
Finally, the panel discusses the possibility of using PSMA PET scan for the primary. The panel is ambivalent, citing the lack of long-term data supporting its use in the primary.
This is the fourth in a series of discussions on PSMA PET supported by Blue Earth Diagnostics. For the first installment, click here. For the second installment, click here. For the third installment, click here.

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