About Urologic Cancers

Accounting for almost 20 percent of cancers worldwide, urologic cancers include malignancies of the prostate, bladder, kidney and testes. The Polsky Urologic Cancer Institute is home to an outstanding team of scientists, clinicians and fellowship-trained urologic oncologists with significant expertise in urologic cancers. Together, our physicians and scientists are working to increase our understanding of the biology of urologic cancers, create innovative tools to distinguish aggressive disease, develop novel and more effective treatments, and to improve the overall survival and well-being of patients.

Choose one of the most common urologic cancer types below to learn more about symptoms, how we come to a diagnosis and our many treatment options.

• Bladder Cancer
• Kidney Cancer
• Prostate Cancer
• Testicular Cancer

Media

View our library of podcasts and videos highlighting the breakthroughs in care and research at the Polksy Urologic Cancer Institute.

• Edward Schaeffer MD, PhD, Ashley Ross MD, PhD and Hatice Savas MD discuss the recent FDA approval of PSMA PET imaging agent 18F-DCFPyL (Pylarify) for prostate cancer detection. Listen here
• Ashley Ross, MD, PhD and his lab team have developed a risk calculator that can help predict your individual risk of prostate cancer before a biopsy. This groundbreaking technology takes into account factors such as age, race, highest PIRADS score on prostate MRI, prostate volume, and serum markers in order to predict an individual's risk of developing significant prostate cancer. Watch here
• Sean Sachdev, MD, discusses his unique focus on stereotactic radiotherapy of metastatic cancers. He offers insight into the role of imaging in diagnosis and ongoing treatment for prostate cancer treatment; he shares information from a recent publication in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. Listen here
• Men with inflammatory bowel disease have four to five times higher risk of being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to a 20-year study from Northwestern Medicine published in the journal European Urology. In this podcast, Shilajit Kundu, MD, chief of Urologic Oncology discusses the link between prostate cancer and inflammatory bowel disease. Listen here
• Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD shares how his team of scientists are involved in three active trials focused on genetic and epigenetic changes in bladder cancer, as well as immuno-oncology in bladder cancer. Listen here
• Joshua Meeks, MD, PhD investigates the gender disparities in bladder cancer by dissecting the tumor and immune mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy and immunotherapy. This research may translate into novel pathways and potential therapeutic targets to improve outcomes and reduce gender disparities in bladder cancer. Learn more
• Edward Schaeffer, MD, PhD and his research team aim to better understand racial disparities in prostate cancer in order to improve identification, treatment selection and outcomes for men of all races with prostate cancer. Learn more
• Ashley Ross, MD, PhD is conducting research on the development, testing and implementation of novel diagnostics and therapeutics with a goal of reducing the suffering from prostate cancer. In this video, Dr. Ross describes the biomarker-driven clinical trials that are showing promise for prostate cancer and other future research directions in the field. Watch here
• Ashley Ross, MD, PhD explains the genetics of prostate cancer, describing how genetics can impact cancer development and prognosis and how genetic testing aids in treatment selection. Watch here
• Hiten Patel, MD, Assistant Professor of Urology at Northwestern Medicine, discusses promising novel diagnostic approaches for small renal masses and treatment options for localized renal masses suspicious for cancer. Listen here

View more Urology content on our Youtube Library