John W. Davis, MD, FACS; David M. Albala, MD; Tanya B. Dorff, MD; R. Jonathan Henderson, MD; Daniel P. Petrylak, MD; and Jonathan D. Tward, MD, presented “Which Patients Do You Struggle With the Most, and What Makes You Sweat?” during the 35th International Prostate Cancer Update conference on February 9, 2025, in Vail, Colorado.
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How to cite: Davis, John W.; Albala, David M.; Dorff, Tanya B.; Henderson, R. Jonathan; Petrylak, Daniel P.; and Tward, Jonathan D. “Which Patients Do You Struggle With the Most, and What Makes You Sweat?” February 9, 2025. Accessed Mar 2026. https://grandroundsinurology.com/which-patients-do-you-struggle-with-the-most-and-what-makes-you-sweat/
Which Patients Do You Struggle With the Most, and What Makes You Sweat? – Summary
In this 20-minute discussion, a panel of experts explores challenges in prostate cancer management, particularly in complex cases involving obesity, severe lower urinary tract symptoms, and treatment decisions for older patients with aggressive disease.
The discussion highlights surgical and radiation strategies, emphasizing patient selection, procedural adjustments, and emerging therapies.
The panel underscores the importance of personalized care, multidisciplinary collaboration, and patient counseling to navigate complex clinical scenarios in prostate cancer treatment.
About the 35th International Prostate Cancer Update:
The International Prostate Cancer Update (IPCU), is a multi-day, CME-accredited conference focused on new developments in prostate cancer treatment, diagnosis, and prevention. IPCU 35 will feature lectures, interactive discussions, panel roundtables, debates, and case reports. This conference is led by expert physicians and is designed for urologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, and other healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer.
The goal of this educational program is to equip healthcare professionals involved in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer with the up-to-date clinical knowledge and tools they need to best treat their patients. The program will discuss the treatment of prostate cancer from diagnosis to treating advanced and metastatic disease. The conference aims to give physicians exposure to a comprehensive review of treating prostate cancer patients and to give them a chance to discuss the issues with peers and experts. You can learn more about the conference here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
John W. Davis, MD, is a Professor of Urology and Director of the Urosurgical Prostate Program at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He received his BS in Biology at Davidson College in North Carolina in 1990. He then went on to earn his medical degree at the University of Virginia in 1994 and completed his residency training at Eastern Virginia Graduate School of Medicine in Norfolk. Dr. Davis had fellowship training in prostate cancer research in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Cell Biology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, and received an American Foundation of Urologic Disease Scholar award for proteomic applications in prostate cancer biomarkers. He completed a Clinical Fellowship in Urologic Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, and a Fellowship in Laparoscopic Urology at Charité Hospital in Berlin, Germany, under the mentorship of Ingolf Tuerk.
Dr. Davis’ clinical interests include patients with urologic cancers, laparoscopic/robotic surgery, and general urology. His academic interests include quality of life after prostate cancer treatment, outcomes for robotic radical prostatectomy, high-risk prostate cancer trials, active surveillance for prostate cancer, and development of robotic surgical techniques for invasive bladder cancer. He has participated as an investigator in several Southwest Oncology Group and industry-sponsored clinical trials.
David M. Albala, MD, is a Chief of Urology at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse, New York. Dr. Albala is considered a national and international authority in laparoscopic and robotic urological surgery. His clinical interests include minimally invasive treatments for benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH), the use of fibrin sealants in surgery, and robotic urologic surgery.
Dr. Albala earned his medical degree at Michigan State University in East Lansing. He completed a residency in Surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire. He then completed a fellowship in Endourology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Under the direction of Ralph V. Clayman, Dr. Albala was part of the team that performed the first laparoscopic nephrectomy in humans.
Dr. Albala is a past White House Fellow (1995-1996), who acted as a special assistant to Federico Peña, Secretary of Transportation, on classified and unclassified public health related issues. He has been a visiting professor at numerous institutions across the United States as well as overseas in countries such as India, China, Iceland, Germany, France, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and Singapore. He has done operative demonstrations in over 32 countries and 23 states. Dr. Albala has over 215 publications in peer-reviewed journals and has authored 3 textbooks in endourology and 4 books in general urology. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Robotic Surgery and serves on the editorial board for Current Opinions in Urology, Reviews in Urology, and Urology Index and Reviews. In addition, he serves as a reviewer for 8 other surgical journals. He is currently on the Board of Directors of the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA). Dr. Albala is also currently the Visiting Professor of Urology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, College of Medicine. Dr. Albala has been identified (by a Stanford University-led study) as one of the top 2% of scientists in the world.
Tanya B. Dorff, MD, serves as an Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Medical Oncology & Therapeutics Research and as the Head of the Genitourinary Cancers Program at City of Hope, a research and treatment center for cancer based in Duarte, California.
Dr. Dorff completed her BS degree at the University of Houston before attending the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. She then completed her internal medicine residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York, and finished subspecialty training in hematology and oncology at Los Angeles County + University of Southern California (USC) Medical Center. Following her training, Dr. Dorff remained on the faculty at USC. She has been published in over 70 publications, including in top-tier journals like Cancer, Lancet Oncology, and Journal of Clinical Oncology. She has been invited to speak at multiple national and international meetings, and serves on the American Society of Clinical Oncology Scientific Committee and the National Cancer Institute Prostate Cancer Task Force.
Dr. Dorff’s research interests in prostate cancer range from clinical trials in PSA-recurrent prostate cancer to the role of fasting in chemotherapy tolerability to CAR T-cells that are primed to target prostate cancer tissue.
R. Jonathan Henderson, MD, is a urologist with Arkansas Urology in Little Rock, Arkansas. He obtained a BS in microbiology from Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. After receiving his MD from LSU Medical Center (LSUMC) in Shreveport, he then completed his internship and residency in urology at LSUMC Hospital. During this time, he also authored a number of papers and presentations.
Dr. Henderson spent the next six years in practice in Alabama, where he specialized in laparoscopy and treating disorders of the female bladder. During this time, he served as a representative of Alabama in the Southeastern Section of the American Urology Association. He also served as an assistant clinical professor of urology at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Dr. Henderson focuses his practice primarily on robotic surgeries and the treatment of prostate cancer. He is certified by the American Board of Urology. He is a member of the American Urologic Association, the Shreveport Medical Society, the Louisiana State Medical Society, the Society of Laparoscopic Surgeons, and the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society. He is past-president of the Large Urology Group Practice Association (LUGPA) and has served on the Board of Directors since 2011.
Daniel P. Petrylak, MD, is a Professor of Medicine, specializing in Medical Oncology and Urology, and Chief of Genitourinary Oncology at Yale University Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut. Dr. Petrylak is an internationally renowned medical oncologist and is considered a pioneer in the research and development of new drugs and treatments to fight cancers of the prostate, bladder, and kidney.
Jonathan D. Tward, MD, PhD, FASTRO is a tenured Professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Utah, where he also serves as the physician lead on several operational committees and working groups.. Dr. Tward holds the The Vincent P. and Janet Mancini Presidential Endowed Chair at Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) in Genitourinary Malignancies and is the leader of the HCI Genitourinary Cancers Center (GUCC). In that role, Dr. Tward is responsible for the strategic vision and operations of the GUCC, including the multidisciplinary collaboration of patient care, community engagement, research, and donor relations. Before joining HCI, Dr. Tward founded and served as the CEO or on the Board of Directors for several pioneering ecommerce and health-related websites. Dr. Tward earned a bachelor's degree in biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, a PhD in biochemistry, and an MD at Tufts University in Boston, Massachusetts. He completed a residency in radiation oncology at the University of Utah.
Dr. Tward is an expert at delivering highly precise and targeted radiation therapy to people afflicted with cancers of the prostate, bladder, kidney, testis, and penis. He uses the vast array of technologies available at the HCI to deliver intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), as well as low-dose-rate (LDR) and high-dose-rate (HDR) brachytherapy.
As a practicing physician and scientist, mentor, and educator, Dr. Tward has contributed to over 80 published-peer reviewed journal articles. He is the Principal Investigator (PI) on several ongoing investigator-initiated clinical trials and is the site PI on numerous cooperative group or industry-sponsored clinical trials. Dr. Tward serves as the Utah State Captain for the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and on the National Comprehensive Cancer Networks (NCCN) clinical practice guidelines committees for prostate, bladder, and penile cancers. As a member of the NCCN Framework for Resource Stratification subcommittees, Dr. Tward helps define appropriate cancer treatment pathways of low- and middle-resource countries where specific diagnostic tests or treatment approaches may be unavailable.
