Urologic Oncology Services Expanded At Cancer Institute Of NJ

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 04 Oct 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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Keeping with its mission of offering a comprehensive array of services to patients, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ) has expanded its Urologic Oncology Program, which has gained formal recognition as a Section of Urologic Oncology under the Department of Surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The program provides highly specialized care for patients with tumors of the genitourinary tract including cancers of the prostate, testis, kidney, and bladder. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

CINJ's Section of Urologic Oncology is a leader in laparoscopic renal procedures and has extensive experience with robotic prostatectomy, which boasts such patient benefits as shorter hospital stays, lower blood loss, and faster recovery. Leading this effort is Isaac Yi Kim, MD, PhD, associate professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who is an expert in the area of robotic prostatectomy and developed the Athermal Intrafascial Robotic or AIR prostatectomy. The AIR procedure spares more nerves than the traditional method and leads to faster recovery of sexual function and bladder control. CINJ has developed a Center of Excellence for robotic surgery and Kim and colleagues have performed more than 550 robotic prostatectomies over the last four years alone.

In addition to its extensive prostate cancer focus, the Section of Urologic Oncology is also building on its excellence in bladder and kidney cancers, having just recruited a pair of urologic oncologists with special expertise in these areas. Michael E. Karellas, MD, is a urologic oncologist at CINJ and an assistant professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Dr. Karellas, who recently completed fellowship training at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), has a clinical interest in the treatment of bladder cancer. Thomas L. Jang, MD, MPH, is a urologic oncologist at CINJ and an assistant professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, who specializes in kidney cancer. Dr. Jang, who also just completed fellowship training at MSKCC, will be responsible for building the program's new prostate cancer database, which will link histological and clinical data from prostate cancer tumors in an effort to further facilitate translational research.

The Section of Urologic Oncology and the Dean and Betty Gallo Prostate Cancer Center offer a wide breadth of clinical trials for patients with tumors of the genitourinary tract as well as several trials studying the prevention of prostate cancer. In addition, the Dean and Betty Gallo Prostate Cancer Center provides a hub for basic and clinical research specific to prostate cancer and serves as a forum for prostate cancer outreach and education activities.

"I am thrilled to welcome Drs. Karellas and Jang to New Jersey's only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center," said Dr. Kim. "Their experience complements an already strong team with varied and unique expertise and will help us grow the program even more."

Additional information about CINJ's Urologic Oncology Program can be found at: http://www.cinj.org/treatment/urologic.html.

Source
Cancer Institute of New Jersey

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