Asan Medical Center (AMC) announced on Tuesday that it has recently opened a specialized clinic, the “Hereditary and Rare Urological Cancer Clinic,” which provides in-depth management of patients with rare and hereditary urological cancers, from accurate diagnosis to treatment.
At the newly opened clinic, specialized urological oncologists conduct comprehensive evaluations to thoroughly understand patients' medical history, symptoms, family history, and other related conditions. Based on the clinical expertise of the hospital’s Urological Cancer Center, the clinic provides personalized treatment plans tailored to each patient's needs.
When collaboration with other departments is necessary, the clinic conducts multidisciplinary integrated care, bringing together relevant medical professionals to explore the optimal treatment methods, including chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, and active surveillance. For hereditary urological cancers, which can recur in multiple organs, including the urological system, the clinic conducts genetic counseling, genetic testing, and specialized pathological examinations to accurately identify the underlying cause.
The Hereditary and Rare Urological Cancer Clinic treats patients with VHL syndrome, which causes tumors in multiple organs such as the kidneys, pancreas, and retina, due to VHL gene mutations, FH gene mutations, which cause FH-deficient kidney cancer that progresses very rapidly and has a poor prognosis, and adrenal cancer, pheochromocytoma, paraganglioma, testicular cancer, and ureteral cancer, which occur at an annual incidence rate of approximately 0.5 to 6 per million worldwide.
“In cases of hereditary and rare urological cancers, standard treatments have not been established, so it is crucial to comprehensively assess the patient’s symptoms, medical history, and type of genetic mutation to provide personalized treatment,” said Professor Park In-keun of the Department of Medical Oncology at Asan Medical Center and head of the Hereditary and Rare Urological Cancers Clinic. “Based on the clinical data accumulated at the Asan Medical Center’s Urological Cancer Center, we will provide optimal treatment.”
The Urological Cancer Center at Asan Medical Center treats one in 10 urological cancer patients in Korea and is a leader in urological cancer treatment.
The center treats over 70,000 outpatients annually and has provided customized treatment for various types of urological cancer through 170 integrated consultations per year since introducing Korea's first multidisciplinary integrated consultation system in 2009.