GU Cast | Urology Podcast

Urologist Ben Lowentritt (Chesapeake Urology, Baltimore), pops into the studio today while passing through Melbourne. We chat about life in a large urology group practice (a huge part of urology service delivery in the USA), why there appears to be a drop in interest in Fellowship training, and his experience of managing advanced prostate cancer in a large urology group practice. Ben, who is also Secretary of the Large Urology Group Practice Association in the USA, has a lot of interest in gathering real world data from large urology group practices, and shares with us some data on the use of ARPIs in mHSPC which has recently been accepted for publication. 

This is a Themed Podcast supported by our Gold Partners, Johnson & Johnson.

Open vs partial nephrectomy, and open vs robotic prostatectomy - two large randomised trials that did not change surgical practice! Just as important to examine these in GU Cast Journal Club as to examine pivotal trials that did change practice. Today we discuss the EORTC Today we discuss the EORTC 30904 RCT looking at kidney cancer surgery (Eur Urol 2011), and the Brisbane randomised trial of open vs robotic prostatectomy conducted (Lancet 2016).

We are delighted to welcome back our GU Cast Journal Club Editors, Dr Carlos Delgado (Mexico City, MEX), and Dr Elena Berg (Munich, GER), along with main GU Cast Hosts, Renu Eapen and Declan Murphy. AN emotional one as Carlos is heading home to Mexico soon!

Links to papers below:
1. A prospective, randomised EORTC intergroup phase 3 study comparing the oncologic outcome of elective nephron-sparing surgery and radical nephrectomy for low-stage renal cell carcinoma Eur Urol 2011

2. Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy versus open radical retropubic prostatectomy: early outcomes from a randomised controlled phase 3 study Lancet 2016

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About GU Cast Journal Club:
Each month, two papers are discussed, each of which are of importance to the GU Oncology community. These may be recent papers, or occasionally we will chose a classic landmark paper in GU Oncology
. The objective is to draw attention to important papers in GU Oncology, and critique these in a robust manner
. The key target audience is trainees working in Urology, Medical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Nuclear Medicine, and diagnostic specialties such as Radiology and Pathology. But any of our regular audience are likely to enjoy this Journal Club series.

Welcome back Rana McKay! Renu was on a flight to Europe this week so Rana jumped into her seat in the GU Cast studio this week to have a chat about the intriguing ARASEC trial which she presented at the AUA Annual Meeting recently. Plus her thoughts on the ARACOG data presented at ASCO last month. And then a great chat with our other studio guest, Professor Renea Taylor, translational scientist at Peter Mac and Monash University, about the very interesting Early Onset Prostate Cancer project, an international collaboration which herself and Rana are both very involved with, looking at the reasons behind why younger men are turning up with aggressive prostate cancer. 

This is a Themed Podcast supported by our Gold Partners, Bayer Pharmaceuticals. 

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Links:
ARASEC trial at AUA 2026
ARACOG trial at ASCO 2026

Tips and tricks for nerve-sparing surgery, learned over 25 years of performing robotic radical prostatectomy. Today we are joined by Dr Ash Tewari, Chief of Urology at Mt Sinai (New York), to talk about his favourite topic - nerve-sparing surgery - and a little about his second favourite topic - cricket! Ash has been one of the world's foremost experts in robotic prostatectomy having been there at the very start when Mani Menon was developing the technique, and has studied the anatomy of nerve-sparing prostatectomy in fine detail.
Today we chat through his thoughts on the optimal approach to nerve-sparing prostatectomy to deliver the best outcomes for our patients. Some surgical footage included on the YouTube version.

This is a Themed Podcast supported by our Silver Partner, Device Technologies.

Links:
7th International Prostate Cancer Symposium December 2025 - Lecture on nerve-sparing surgery 
Mt Sinai Symposium at AUA, May 2026 - Lecture on nerve-sparing surgery

Hot topics in a hot city!! Declan and Renu escaped from deep Winter in Melbourne and landed into the hottest day on record in Berlin!! We are here to help with the Astellas Global Prostate Cancer Masterclass, a wonderful two day meeting focussing on advanced prostate cancer. Delegates from all over the world and a top class local and International faculty. We catch up with great friends of GU Cast Stephen Freedland (Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles) and Bertrand Tombal (UC Louvain, Brussels), to pick their brains on hot topics in this hot city.

This is a Themed Podcast supported by our Platinum Partner, Astellas.
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