The WellSpan Spotlight

Health and wellness

Innovative prostate care, tailored to your needs

2024_Web_Pluvicto treatment team

WellSpan offers leading-edge prostate care for everything from a benign enlarged prostate to advanced prostate cancer from our expert team of interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and urologists.

Our comprehensive treatment includes the latest in infusion therapy, ultrasound ablation, and robotic surgery, in addition to standard treatment options such as surgery or radiation therapy.

Most importantly, we deliver prostate care that is individually designed for you and your life.

“When we see patients, we do everything possible to treat them not just as somebody with a disease diagnosis, but as someone with a whole life,” says Dr. Navesh Sharma, WellSpan medical director of radiation oncology.

Here are some of the prostate treatments we offer.

For men whose cancer has spread

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The Pluvicto treatment team at WellSpan includes: (front row, from left) Dr. Courtney Krug, Dr. Navesh Sharma, Erynn Matthews, Margie Zinn, and Lesley Gurreri; and (back row, from left) Michael Vogel, Dr. Osigbemhe Iyalomhe, Evan Feninez, and Elyce Wolfgang.

WellSpan now offers an infusion therapy called Pluvicto, for men who have a particular type of prostate cancer (metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer) that has spread in their body.

The infusion therapy, administered via an intravenous line, is not chemotherapy but a type of therapy called “radioligand therapy,” nuclear medicine that uses radiation to treat certain prostate cancers. It is a targeted approach that combines a radioactive particle with a compound that delivers radiation directly to cancer cells, while minimizing damage to healthy cells.

Pluvicto is not a cure for cancer, but it can help some men live longer and slow the growth of their tumors. It may also help them with some symptoms associated with metastatic prostate cancer

Patients receive Pluvicto once every six weeks. The most common side effects are fatigue, nausea, and dry mouth.

The treatment is offered at WellSpan cancer centers in York and Adams counties.

For men with intermediate- to low-risk cancer

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The Prostate Cancer Imaging Team at WellSpan York Hospital includes (from left) Dr. Adnaan Moin, Dr. Edward Steiner, Gena Paul, nurse practitioner, and Amy Ring, Vianca Ott, and Chad Colliflower.

WellSpan York Hospital offers a treatment called TULSA-Pro, a minimally invasive procedure that uses real-time MRI imaging and directional ultrasound to produce very high temperatures to destroy cancerous tissue in the prostate.

Called a “milestone” in the care of prostate cancer, the treatment is designed for mostly for men with low-and intermediate-risk prostate cancer of a certain size that has not spread beyond the prostate. WellSpan is one of just 23 sites nationally to offer the treatment.

The treatment is associated with low rates of sexual dysfunction and urinary leakage.

“TULSA offers another element to our arsenal to offer patients individualized treatment,” says Dr. Edward Steiner, an interventional radiologist and director of the Advanced Prostate Care Center at WellSpan York Hospital.

For men with enlarged prostates

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Dr. Mark Massak, WellSpan interventional radiologist

An enlarged prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, is a common condition in men over the age of 45. As men age, they have more of a chance of having an enlarged prostate, with the condition occurring in 50% to 60% of men in their 60s and increasing to 80% to 90% of those older than 70 years of age, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Symptoms vary, but may include an increased frequency or urge to urinate, straining to urinate, and incomplete emptying of the bladder, among others. An untreated enlarged prostate can lead to urinary tract infections, as well as bladder or kidney damage.

Medication is usually the first treatment but if that does not resolve the problem patients may need a procedure. Prostatic artery embolization (PAE) is among the treatments WellSpan offers.

“This procedure provides significant relief of symptoms so that patients feel better and can go back to their daily lives,” says Dr. Mark Massak, a WellSpan interventional radiologist.

PAE is minimally invasive and done as an outpatient procedure. Patients are not required to have a catheter in the bladder afterward. Benefits can last up to 10 years, after which the procedure can be repeated, or other treatments can be explored.

For more information on our urologic cancer care, go here. For information on our urology care, go here.