A Precise Approach to Treating Prostate Cancer: Focal Therapy Program Expands at Mount Sinai
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 nation’s leading integrated academic health systems and one of the largest in the New York metropolitan area. The Health System includes approximately 48,000 employees, more than 9,000 physicians, and 8,600 nurses across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, over 600 research and clinical laboratories, a school of nursing, and schools of medicine and graduate school of biomedical sciences.
As a leading learning health system, Mount Sinai combines clinical expertise with scientific discovery to improve patient care while training the next generation of health care and biomedical leaders. The Health System provides care across every stage of life, from prenatal care through geriatrics, while advancing personalized medicine through artificial intelligence, data science, and biomedical research.
Mount Sinai is consistently recognized among the nation’s leading academic health systems for patient care, research, and education. The Mount Sinai Hospital is ranked No. 1 in New York and recognized as one of the world’s top Smart Hospital by Newsweek. The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai ranks No. 11 among U.S. medical schools for National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding and No. 1 among freestanding medical schools, reflecting the strength of its scientific enterprise and leadership in biomedical research.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube. To listen to news and stories from Mount Sinai, visit the Mount Sinai Podcast Network.
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