Newswise — NYU Langone Medical Center is pleased to announce that it has established The Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center with a $5 million gift from Joel E. Smilow, a member of the Board of Trustees at NYU Langone Medical Center and New York University. The Smilow Center is dedicated to providing comprehensive, state-of-the-art personalized care for men with prostate cancer as well as educating men and their families about the disease and the wide range of treatment options available today.

“The goal of the Smilow Center team is to help each patient make an informed decision about their treatment options for prostate cancer and choose the treatment that is the best fit for them personally and medically,” said Herbert Lepor, MD, the Martin Spatz Chairman and Professor of Urology and director of The Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center at NYU Langone Medical Center. “Our Center’s unique multi-disciplinary, collaborative and evidence-based approach will empower patients with information they need to make the best treatment decisions, thereby helping to ensure satisfaction with treatment outcomes.”

Physicians and surgeons at the Smilow Center are among the most experienced physicians in the world. A multidisciplinary team of urologists, surgeons, naturopathic doctors, radiation oncologists and nurses work closely with patients to identify and select the optimal course of treatment for them, including active surveillance, surgery, radiation therapy and cryotherapy. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy are also available at The Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Eligible patients at the Smilow Center also have the opportunity to participate in the latest clinical trials for prostate cancer, including minimally invasive focal targeted therapies, such as high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) which uses high-energy sound waves to kill cancer cells and vascular-targeted photodynamic therapy utilizing light-energy waves to destroy prostate cancer.

The Smilow Center has also transformed the typical waiting room experience into an educational opportunity. When they arrive, patients are given iPads to access information on the Center’s new educational website and interactive video library. Flat-screen televisions feature videos about prostate cancer and the latest treatments for the disease.

The Smilow Center is specially equipped with two operating rooms for out-patient procedures along with the technology needed for radiologists to facilitate image-guided ablative treatments which are being pioneered by the Smilow team. It is also an investigational site for the most advanced computer guided biopsy and imaging technology. The Center will also serve as an educational training facility for physicians, surgeons and fellows interested in learning about the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, and includes video-broadcast telemedicine capabilities.

The Smilow Comprehensive Prostate Cancer Center is located at 135 East 31st Street between 3rd and Lexington Avenue in New York, NY. It is an integral component of the NCI-designated NYU Cancer Institute at NYU Langone Medical Center and the Department of Urology at NYU Langone Medical Center. Learn more: http://prostate-cancer.med.nyu.edu/

About NYU Langone Medical CenterNYU Langone Medical Center is one of the nation's premier centers of excellence in healthcare, biomedical research, and medical education. For over 170 years, NYU physicians and researchers have made countless contributions to the practice and science of health care. Today the Medical Center consists of NYU School of Medicine, including the Smilow Research Center, the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, and the Sackler Institute of Graduate Biomedical Sciences; and the NYU Hospitals Center, including Tisch Hospital, a 705-bed acute-care general hospital, Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, the first and largest facility of its kind, and NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, a leader in musculoskeletal care, a Clinical Cancer Center and numerous ambulatory sites.