The more Edward Heinz learned about radiation therapy, the more he hoped he could avoid it.
The 79-year-old business executive had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and radiation was suggested as his best chance for a cure. But even after speaking to well-connected physician friends and touring one of the country’s most advanced facilities for radiation therapy, Heinz remained concerned about the treatment’s potential side effects.
Dr. Puneet Sindhwani, chair of the UTMC Department of Urology and Kenneth Kropp Endowed Professor of Urology at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences.
His exhaustive search for an alternative option led to a treatment called high-intensity focused ultrasound — and to The University of Toledo Medical Center, which was among the first hospitals in the United States to embrace the cutting-edge prostate cancer treatment.
“I’m lucky enough that I can go anywhere and do anything that I want to get the treatment that I feel is best for me,” Heinz said. “Your facility right here in Toledo is the best for this procedure. No qualification. It was so evident I was in the right place and with the right people.”
High-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU, treats prostate cancer using ultrasound waves to precisely target cancerous cells while preserving the healthy tissue around them.
At most medical facilities, the primary treatment options for prostate cancer are traditional radiation to destroy cancerous tissue or to remove the organ entirely. But because the prostate sits near important structures for urinary and sexual health, these options include the risk of serious side effects such as long-term loss of sensation, sexual dysfunction and incontinence.
The ultrasound waves in HIFU can target smaller areas of the body than traditional radiation — some as tiny as a grain of rice.
“In very few cancers do we take out the whole organ rather than removing the cancer itself,” said Dr. Puneet Sindhwani, chair of the UTMC Department of Urology and Kenneth Kropp Endowed Professor of Urology at The University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences. “Combining more precise biopsy techniques with high-intensity focused ultrasound provides us an opportunity to treat only the area where we found the cancer and spare the rest of the prostate, reducing the side effects.”
Heinz, who is originally from Chicago but now lives in the Cayman Islands with his wife, Barbara, had looked into HIFU at other U.S. hospitals, but didn’t feel comfortable with their programs.
Dr. Puneet Sindhwani, chair of the UTMC Department of Urology, left, with Edward Heinz who underwent successful treatment for prostate cancer.
When he met Sindhwani, he was impressed by the urologist’s expertise and his ability to connect with patients about complex medical ideas.
Sindhwani ultimately performed two rounds of HIFU on Heinz, who has now been in remission for more than a year.
“He’s a wonderful doctor and he’s without question the best in the country,” Heinz said. “I would trust him with any of my family and I would recommend him to anyone.”
September is National Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, providing an opportunity to increase awareness about what has become the second most common cancer in men. Roughly one in eight men will develop the disease during his lifetime.
Richard Dooley, a patient with UTMC for more than 25 years, was diagnosed with the disease in 2021 at the age of 79.
Dooley immediately sought out Sindhwani, who had previously treated his late wife, Bonnie Lea, for bladder cancer and who he had a positive experience with and trusted.
“Dr. Sindhwani did a great job doing what he could for my wife, Bonnie Lea, getting her three and a half years before the cancer took her out. I knew where to turn when my time came.”
Thanks to close collaboration between primary care providers and specialists, UTMC can schedule many surgery patients quickly. Dooley estimated that after receiving his positive cancer diagnosis, he was prepped for surgery and completed it within six weeks — a process that can often take much longer.
HIFU appealed to Dooley because it was less invasive than other treatment options available to him and had a shorter recovery time. His experience with the procedure was “straightforward,” and the surgery center at UTMC, “a first-class outfit.”
Richard Dooley, who underwent successful high-intensity focused ultrasound treatment for prostate cancer at UTMC, holds a photo of his wife, Bonnie Lea Dooley. Dooley trusted his care to Dr. Puneet Sindhwani in large part because of the care Sindhwani had given Bonnie Lea when she was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
The HIFU procedure for Dooley was completed within a single outpatient visit under anesthesia and required no overnight hospital stay.
Dooley, whose family is originally from Toledo and owned a commercial painting company, currently resides in Waukegan, Ill., but continued to receive his medical care at UTMC.
Heinz and Dooley have both returned to their respective careers and activities, grateful for a clean bill of health.
Dooley, who received his degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Notre Dame in 1963, has no plans to retire from the career he loves. The return to his active lifestyle was as quick — and the side effects as minimal — as he had hoped.
“I’ll keep going as long as I can. Mentally, I’m doing great. The only thing that’s bugging me now is the arthritis,” he joked.
Heinz, whose family-owned, Chicago-based firm is a leading supplier of flavors, fragrances, botanical extracts and other specialty ingredients, remains active in business but the ordeal has changed his thinking somewhat.
“I’d like to think I’ve gotten my priorities straight,” he said. “I spend a lot more time with my family. I’ve taken on fewer projects and I’ve left a few boards. You can’t do everything.”
Heinz said he is grateful for the way HIFU at UTMC has given him the energy to dedicate to what matters to him most.
“If I didn’t have UTMC and your program, I don’t think I would be thinking that I’d have a chance to contribute going forward,” he said.
For more information about high-intensity focused ultrasound at UTMC or to request an appointment, call 419.383.3578.
