For Helen Cui, MD, PhD, a new surgical oncologist in the Department of Urology at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, the future is bright for patients with prostate and bladder cancers.
“We treat cancer well, but in terms of quality of life for patients with prostate cancer and bladder cancer, we’re offering more non-surgical treatments, treatments that preserve their quality of life,” she says. “We offer the high-intensity focused ultrasound here, HIFU, and we’re trying to bring in more focused treatments for kidney cancer as well.”
Dr. Cui’s research targets another way to help patients: “I do research into prostate cancer and bladder cancer, trying to find biomarkers to accurately stage the cancer.” Accurate staging, especially during diagnosis, can help ensure patients have access to all the possible treatment options they need, in addition to non-surgical options or delaying treatment when possible, in order to help them best navigate their cancer. Dr. Cui is working with other members of Roswell Park’s Department of Urology in establishing a new program for patients with an elevated PSA level to best determine what kind of treatment or surveillance is needed to further personalize care.
“The future of the field of urology is changing very fast,” Dr. Cui says. While survival rates for bladder cancer haven’t changed much in a long time, “now that we have new neoadjuvant and perioperative treatments for muscle-invasive bladder cancer, as well as non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, I think (those) outcomes are going to be improved dramatically. For prostate cancer, we’re entering into the era of doing focal treatments and we’re here as the experts to select who is appropriate for focal treatment versus surgery versus radiation. We have all those services available for the patient to come and talk through all their options before they make a decision.”
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