Stay in the Game

For many of us, our urologists arrived in our lives at a time of crisis and have confined their care to managing our prostate cancer diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. But in an engaging conversation with host Ed Randall, Dr. Michael Volpe walks us through the gamut of urinary and reproductive organ conditions a urologist might encounter in a clinical practice. Dr. Volpe also suggests that as we age, we might want to consider adding a urologist to our medical team.  

Dr. Volpe also shared stories about meeting his wife Isabelle in medical school in 1990 and bonding over their mutual love of catching the #4 train to take in Yankees games from their regular seats in the bleachers. And, of course, there is the surreal (and joyful) experience thirty-four years later of his son Anthony playing shortstop for his parents’ favorite team.

Negative side effects of prostate cancer treatment can leave men facing the physical and emotional challenges of erectile dysfunction. Yet, prostate cancer patients do not have to resign themselves to permanent erectile dysfunction or the complete loss of sexual function as a side effect of their treatment. Urologist and men’s sexual health specialist, Dr. Amy Pearlman believes “every man can be helped to regain control of their sexual health” through individualized therapy regimens. Over the course of the conversation, Dr. Pearlman outlines a number of treatment options and methodologies to help address sexual dysfunction.

Before he created The Active Surveillor.com, Howard Wolinsky was a medical writer for the Chicago Sun-Times for nearly thirty years and a regular contributor to MedPage Today and Medscape. When he was diagnosed with Gleason 6 (now also called GG1) prostate he said no thanks as he was being rushed to take on a radical treatment option. Thirteen years down the road from his cancer diagnosis he is one of the country’s most passionate advocates for active surveillance as a first (and possibly forever) step to indolent/favorable diagnoses of prostate cancer.

• Howard Wolinsky on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/howardwolinsky
• Subscribe to The Active Surveillor: https://howardwolinsky.substack.com/
• Howard’s story in STAT News: https://www.statnews.com/2022/01/11/active-surveillance-for-prostate-cancer-the-gift-that-keeps-on-giving/
• How Wolinsky became an advocate: https://www.medpagetoday.com/hematologyoncology/prostatecancer/63251

• Feature on Active Surveillance in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/well/live/before-prostate-surgery-consider-active-surveillance.html
• Most men with low-risk prostate cancer now opt for acttive surveillance. or monitoring: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974009
• More than 60% of U.S. men with low-risk prostate cancer are now opting for active surveillance or monitoring: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974009

• Understanding why Secretary Austin wanted to keep his cancer a secret, but how he can help other patients by opening up: https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/apatientsjourney/108309
• The risks of transrectal biopsies: https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/apatientsjourney/92201
• The debate between transrectal and transperineal prostate biopsy methods: https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/991496
• Is low-risk disease really prostate cancer? https://www.medpagetoday.com/special-reports/apatientsjourney/90601

Named by Forbes Magazine in a cover story as The Man Who Changed Medicine, Michael Milken is the founder of the Prostate Cancer Foundation (1993). Recently, Esquire named him one of the 75 “Most Influential People of the 21st Century.” In a wide-ranging conversation with host Ed Randall, Milken provides insights about exciting advancements in the diagnosis, treatment, and eradication of prostate cancer.

• Michael Milken’s website: mikemilken.com 
• The Prostate Cancer Foundation website: www.pcf.org
• Website for the Center for Advancing the American Dream: https://milkeninstitute.org/centers/center-for-advancing-the-american-dream
• Faster Cures: Accelerating the Future of Health (April 2023): https://fastercuresbook.com/

This episode of the Stay in the Game podcast is supported by Bayer.

MRI-guided radiotherapy has brought new treatment protocols and staffing models to prostate cancer oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, according to educator/researcher/clinician, Dr. Jonathan Leeman. “Seeing while we treat” has made cutting-edge SBRT radiation delivery a game-changer for his patients.

Leading physician and Cyberknife pioneer, Jonathan Haas, MD, is the Chair of the Department of Radiation Oncology at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. In a recent conversation on our highly rated Stay in the Game podcast, Dr. Haas eloquently talked through the many treatment options for prostate cancer – and how bringing a holistic approach to treating the disease provides patients with more options for their care.