Asan Medical Center Seoul Opens "Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancer Clinic"

In-depth Management for Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancers
with Low Incidence and Challenging Diagnosis and Treatment

On August 12, Asan Medical Center Seoul announced that it has recently established the "Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancer Clinic," a specialized clinic that provides comprehensive management from accurate diagnosis to treatment for patients with rare and hereditary urologic cancers.

Professor Ingeun Park of the Department of Oncology at Asan Medical Center Seoul is treating a patient with a rare urologic cancer. Photo by Asan Medical Center Seoul

Due to an aging population, the number of patients with urologic cancers such as prostate cancer, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer continues to rise, leading to rapid advancements in early diagnosis and treatment methods. However, for rare urologic cancers with low incidence rates, such as adrenal cancer, testicular cancer, and urachal cancer, as well as urologic cancers caused by hereditary factors, accurate diagnosis and treatment remain difficult.

At the Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancer Clinic at Asan Medical Center Seoul, a team of urologic oncology specialists conducts in-depth consultations to thoroughly assess each patient's medical history, symptoms, family history, and comorbidities outside the urinary system. Based on the clinical expertise accumulated by the Asan Medical Center Urologic Cancer Center?which treats one out of every ten urologic cancer patients in Korea?the clinic provides personalized treatment for each patient.

When collaboration with other departments is necessary, multidisciplinary integrated care is provided, bringing together relevant medical professionals to determine the optimal treatment plan, including chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, or active surveillance.

In particular, for hereditary urologic cancers that may cause tumors to recur throughout the body, including the urinary system, the clinic conducts genetic counseling, hereditary testing, and specialized pathology examinations to accurately identify the underlying causes.

The Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancer Clinic treats patients with conditions such as VHL syndrome, which results from VHL gene mutations and can cause tumors in multiple organs including the kidneys, pancreas, and retina; FH-deficient renal cell carcinoma, which is caused by FH gene mutations, progresses rapidly, and has a poor prognosis; as well as adrenal cancer, pheochromocytoma, paraganglioma, testicular cancer, and urachal cancer, all of which have a global annual incidence rate of about 0.5 to 6 cases per million people.

Professor Ingeun Park of the Department of Oncology at Asan Medical Center Seoul, who leads the Hereditary and Rare Urologic Cancer Clinic, stated, "For hereditary and rare urologic cancers, there are no established standard treatments, so it is crucial to comprehensively evaluate each patient's symptoms, medical history, and type of genetic mutation to provide tailored therapy. We are committed to delivering optimal treatment based on the extensive clinical data accumulated by the Asan Medical Center Urologic Cancer Center."

The Asan Medical Center Urologic Cancer Center treats one out of every ten urologic cancer patients in Korea and leads the way in urologic cancer treatment. The center treats more than 70,000 outpatients annually and, since introducing Korea's first multidisciplinary integrated care system in 2009, has provided approximately 170 integrated care sessions each year, offering individualized treatment for various urologic cancers.

To date, the Asan Medical Center Urologic Cancer Center has performed more than 40,000 urologic cancer surgeries. The majority of these procedures?over 99% of prostate cancer surgeries and more than 80% of kidney cancer surgeries?are performed using minimally invasive techniques, minimizing complications and side effects for patients. The 30-day postoperative mortality rate stands at an impressive 0 to 0.12%.

In addition, the center actively offers a wide range of treatment options tailored to each patient's symptoms and causes, including personalized immunotherapy and targeted therapy using genomic and clinical data, advanced radiation therapy for patients unsuitable for surgery or radiofrequency ablation (RFA), and RFA procedures in the Department of Radiology to destroy tumor tissue using high-frequency currents.

Furthermore, Asan Medical Center Seoul was the first in Korea to establish a Theranostics Center and is actively treating patients with refractory metastatic cancer using Pluvicto, an innovative prostate cancer therapy.

Lee Jaeryeon, Director of the Urologic Cancer Center and Professor of Oncology at Asan Medical Center Seoul, stated, "We will continue to lead the way in treating complex and refractory urologic cancers by actively adopting the latest therapies and fostering an organic multidisciplinary collaboration system to provide the highest standard of care." Meanwhile, the Asan Medical Center Cancer Hospital publishes an annual "Outcomes Book" that details both quantitative indicators, such as the number of cancer surgeries and procedures, and qualitative indicators, such as five-year survival rates, as well as the history and current status of the Cancer Hospital.

Last year, the report focused on Korea's five most common cancers?liver, colorectal, gastric, breast, and lung cancer. This year, the 2024 Outcomes Book was recently published, focusing on prostate, kidney, and bladder cancers, which are the most common urologic cancers in men.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.