May 18, 2015 — Mount Sinai (New York) is expanding its use of an image-guided technology that focuses on removing only cancerous tissue in the prostate, sparing the rest of the gland. The technique presents a contrast to traditional approaches, where removing the entire prostate leaves patients safe from cancer, but facing profound sexual and urinary side effects.
Focal therapy is a technique of treating only the cancerous areas of the prostate, not affecting the rest of the prostate. The focal therapy program at Mount Sinai will be the first to use fusion biopsy technology to deliver treatment more precisely. Fusion-guided biopsy, an imaging technique which combines magnetic resonance (MRI) and ultrasound imaging to better visualize the prostate during procedures, has been in use at Mount Sinai since 2013 for obtaining biopsy samples.
The newly expanded program will be led by Art R. Rastinehad, DO, director of focal therapy and interventional urologic oncology and associate professor of urology and radiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Rastinehad, who joined Mount Sinai from the North Shore-LIJ Health System in January, is a recognized leader in the design of the imaging and the screening techniques at the foundation of focal therapy. In collaboration with the National Cancer Institute and Philips Health care, for instance, he helped to develop the first fusion biopsy device.
Rastinehad is the first dual fellowship trained urological oncologist to practice interventional urology. In his new position, he will work with other industry leaders at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to advance a multidisciplinary approach to treating prostate cancer.
Since joining the Mount Sinai Health System, Rastinehad led the first international course on MRI/US fusion-guided biopsies, sponsored by the American Urological Association and hosted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in December of last year.
For more information: www.mountsinai.org
May 03, 2025 
