• Press Release

A Precise Approach to Treating Prostate Cancer: Focal Therapy Program Expands at Mount Sinai

  • (May 06, 2015)

Mount Sinai is expanding its use of an image-guided technology that focuses on removing only cancerous tissue in the prostate, sparing the rest of the gland.  The technique presents a contrast to traditional approaches, where removing the entire prostate leaves patients safe from cancer, but facing profound sexual and urinary side effects.  

Focal therapy is a technique of treating only the cancerous areas of the prostate, not affecting the rest of the prostate. The focal therapy program at Mount Sinai will be the first to use fusion biopsy technology to deliver treatment more precisely. Fusion-guided biopsy, an imaging technique which combines MRI and ultrasound imaging to better visualize the prostate during procedures, has been in use at Mount Sinai since 2013 for use in obtaining biopsy samples.

The newly expanded program will be led by Art R. Rastinehad, DO, Director of Focal Therapy and Interventional Urologic Oncology and Associate Professor of Urology and Radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Rastinehad, who joined Mount Sinai from the North Shore-LIJ Health System in January, is a recognized leader in the design of the imaging and the screening techniques at the foundation of focal therapy. In collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and Philips Health care, for instance, Dr. Rastinehad helped to develop the first fusion biopsy device.

“We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Rastinehad to Mount Sinai,” said Ash Tewari, MD, the Kyung Hyun Kim, MD Chair of Urology at the Mount Sinai Health System and Professor of Urology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “I look forward to working with Art to further develop our focal therapy initiative.”

Dr. Rastinehad is the first dual fellowship trained urological oncologist to practice interventional urology. In his new position, he will work with other industry leaders at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to advance a multidisciplinary approach to treating prostate cancer.

Since joining the Mount Sinai Health System, Dr. Rastinehad led the first international course on MRI/US fusion guided biopsies, sponsored by the American Urological Association and hosted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in December of last year. Dr. Rastinehad will lead future courses at Mount Sinai including one held in March. For more information, visit https://www.auanet.org/education/courses/MRFUS151.

About the Mount Sinai Health System

Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.

For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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