Webinar: What You Should Know About Urologic Cancers
During Urology Awareness Month in September, the Department of Urology hosted a series of webinars for our patient community.
The first webinar in the series, titled “What You Should Know About Urologic Cancers,” featured Dr. Juan Garisto, a leading specialist in urologic oncology and robotic surgery, Director of Urologic Oncology at NYP Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and Assistant Professor of Clinical Urology at Weill Cornell Medicine.
In the webinar, Dr. Garisto focused mainly on cancers of the prostate, kidney, bladder and testicle.
Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the number-one type of cancer among men. One in eight men will develop prostate cancer at some point in their lifetime.
Main risk factors
- Over 60 years old
- Family history of prostate cancer
- African American race
PSA screening
- Men should get their first PSA test between ages 45 and 50.
- Men at higher-than-average risk should begin getting screened between ages 40 and 45.
- If a man’s PSA is elevated, an MRI of the prostate may be recommended, followed by a biopsy if warranted.
Management of localized prostate cancer
- Patients at low risk are treated via active surveillance.
- If diagnosed with intermediate or high risk prostate cancer, patients may receive a radical prostatectomy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy or a combination of these.
Kidney Cancer
Causes
Causes of kidney cancer include genetics, smoking, a family history of high blood pressure, obesity, being on dialysis and workplace exposure to certain chemicals.
Symptoms
In the early stage of the disease, there are no symptoms. But later, patients may experience blood in the urine, pain between the ribs and hips, low back pain on one side, loss of appetite, weight loss, fever or anemia.
The goal of treatment is to preserve as much of the kidney and its function, as possible. However, patients with advanced kidney cancer may need to have the affected kidney surgically removed.
Bladder Cancer
Two main types
- Non muscle invasive bladder cancer affects the thin tissue on the inside surface of the bladder.
- Muscle invasive bladder cancer has spread to the thick muscles in and outside the bladder.
Causes
- Genetics
- Cyclophosphamide (a chemotherapy drug)
- Radiation to the pelvis
- Smoking
- Workplace exposure to certain chemicals
- Schistostomiasis (a parasitic disease that’s prevalent in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia)
Symptoms
Blood in the urine is seen in 95 percent of bladder cancer patients. Some may also experience pain in the lower abdomen or pain when passing urine.
Treatment
Patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer usually undergo removal of the tumor. Those with muscle invasive cancer may need to have their bladder surgically removed and replaced by an external pouch or a “neobladder”—a surgical procedure to create a new bladder. Other options include trimodal therapy, defined as endoscopic resection of the tumor followed by concurrent radiation and chemotherapy.
Testicular Cancer
Testicular cancer accounts for just 5 percent of all new cancers. It is also 95 percent curable.
Causes and risk factors
- Family history
- An undescended testicle in infancy or childhood
Treatment
- Surgical removal of the testicle and removal of the nearby lymph nodes, if necessary
- Chemotherapy
Watch the complete webinar below.