Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/674098
SOUTH NA SSAU COMMUNITIES HOSPITAL HA S BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF LOCAL UROLOGIC CARE FOR NE ARLY 40 YE ARS. WHILE THE MODALITIES FOR DIAGNOSING AND TRE ATING UROLOGIC CONDITIONS HAVE E VOLVED THROUGHOUT THE DECADES, THE HOSPITAL HA S CONTINUALLY STAYED ABRE A ST OF NE W TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES. SOUTH NA SSAU COMMUNITIES HOSPITAL'S Urology Program o•ers comprehensive care for benign and malignant diseases of the genitourinary tract, including stone disease, erectile dysfunction, and kidney and bladder cancer. The hospital's Center for Prostate Health also ensures South Shore residents have access to collaborative, state-of-the-art prostate cancer care. Targeted prostate biopsy, active surveillance, robotic prostatectomy, cryosurgery and radiation therapy are among the services available to men diagnosed with nonaggressive and aggressive forms of the disease. EXPLORING CONTROVERSIES IN PROSTATE CANCER SCREENING One in seven men develops prostate cancer, according to the American Cancer Society. However, prostate cancer screening is controversia l. Traditiona lly, physicians eva luated blood levels of the glycoprotein prostate-specific a ntigen (PSA) to screen for prostate cancer. A blood PSA level greater than 3.0 ng/mL may warrant a biopsy of prostate tissue, according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. In 2012, however, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommended against PSA screening, citing the potential for false-positive results and the potential overdiagnosis and overtreatment of nonaggressive prostate cancers. "PSA levels can be elevated for reasons unrelated to prostate cancer, including the normal enlargement of the prostate that occurs over time, prostatitis or sexual activity," says Michael P. Herman, MD, Director of Urologic Oncology at South Nassau Communities Hospital. "The only way to confirm a prostate cancer diagnosis is to perform a biopsy. Men who don't have cancer or have nonaggressive disease sometimes undergo biopsies unnecessarily." In its most recent guideline update, the American Urological Association (AUA) recommends physicians and their patients Michael P. Herman, MD, Director of the Urologic Oncology Program at South Nassau Communities Hospital and Daniel S. McCally, MD, FACS, Assistant Director of the Urology Program at South Nassau Communities Hospital, perform a prostate biopsy. South Nassau Communities Hospital: A Trailblazer in South Shore Prostate Cancer Care BY TIFFANY PARNELL 0 6 C O V E R F E A T U R E