Arthur Sagalowsky, M.D.

Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center

Urology
Bladder Cancer
Genitourinary Cancer

Biography

Arthur Sagalowsky, M.D., is a Professor of Urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, with joint appointments in the Departments of Urology and Surgery. He is the holder of the Paul C. Peters Chair in Urology in Memory of Rumsey and Louis Strickland.

Dr. Sagalowsky specializes in all aspects of urological malignancies and related urinary tract reconstruction. He has unique surgical experience with:

Radical cystectomy and continent urinary diversion with orthotopic neobladders and cutaneous reservoirs
Open nerve-sparing radical prostatectomy, and, in select cases, nerve-sparing cystoprostatectomy for patients with prostate cancer or bladder cancer
Complex partial nephrectomy for patients with large localized kidney tumors where preservation of renal function by nephron sparing surgery is important; radical nephrectomy for large kidney tumor debulking; and resection of tumors with tumor thrombus into the vena cava (and even into the heart)
Debulking retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for testis cancer

His research interests involve translational studies on bladder cancer and kidney cancer involving clinical diagnosis and treatment, and translational studies on molecular pathways as predictors of disease behavior and risk for recurrence, progression, response to treatment and disease-related mortality. He has published and spoken widely on these topics and has extensive experience in clinical trials.

Dr. Sagalowsky is a member of the American Association for Cancer Research, American College of Surgeons, American Society of Transplant Surgeons, American Urological Association, the Society of Urologic Oncology, and the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons.

In 2018, he was honored by Texas Monthly as a Super Doctor, and he is listed in America’s Top Doctors for Cancer.

Meet Dr. Sagalowsky

Professor of Urology

When you’re faced with life-threatening diseases like bladder cancer and kidney cancer, you want an experienced surgeon as your ally. Arthur Sagalowsky, M.D., offers surgical expertise that few can match for urologic cancers.

“We all are proud to improve the quality of our patients’ lives.”

A Texas Monthly Super Doctor and a U.S. News & World Report Top Doctor, Dr. Sagalowsky has one of the largest referral practices in the United States for patients with bladder cancer or kidney cancer. He was one of the first surgeons in the world to perform a continent urinary diversion for patients who need their bladder removed. The procedure creates a pouch inside the body that acts like a bladder.

Dr. Sagalowsky is also well known for performing open partial nephrectomy for patients with complex kidney tumors that may not be amenable to nephron-sparing surgery by minimally invasive surgical techniques. These complex techniques allow both control of the tumor and maximize preservation of renal function.

He and his colleagues also help patients with large kidney tumors as well as those with tumor thrombus that grows out of the renal vein and into the vena cava – in some cases, as far as into the heart. Dr. Sagalowsky has helped UT Southwestern Medical Center become the largest regional referral destination for such patients.

Dr. Sagalowsky also works with the Urologic Oncology team at UT Southwestern to pioneer cancer treatments. The team has been involved in a 10-year project investigating unique panels of molecular markers in bladder cancer that affect tumor behavior in terms of risk for recurrence, progression, and mortality.

Identification of such high-risk features may improve patient care through more frequent follow-up, earlier treatment, and potential development of specific treatments that attack the related features of the tumors.

Dr. Sagalowsky may be known for his experience with complex surgeries, but he stresses that it’s the multidisciplinary Urologic Cancer team – including medical oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, and diagnostic radiology – that makes UT Southwestern a unique place for cancer care in Texas.

“Our multidisciplinary team approach is necessary to provide patients with optimal care,” he says.

Education & Training

Fellowship - UT Southwestern Medical Center (1978-1980), Pharmacology
Residency - Indiana University Hospitals (1975-1978), Urology
Internship - Indiana University Hospitals (1973-1974), Medical/surgical
Medical School - Indiana University School of Medicine (1969-1973)

Professional Associations & Affiliations

Society of Urologic Oncology
American Urological Association
American Society of Transplant Surgeons
American College of Surgeons
American Association for Cancer Research

Honors & Awards

NIH Research Fellow Training Grant, No.5-T32-GM07247-03/1978-1980
Dr. Paul Peters Chair in Urology in Memory of Rumsey and Louis Strickland, 1994- Present
American Urological Association Research Scholar Program, Wyland F. Leadbetter Scholarship Recipient/1978-1980
Phi Beta Kappa 1969, Indiana University
CIRCON/ACMI GOLD CYSTOSCOPE AWARD of the American Urological Association 1987, The most outstanding achievement within 10 years of residency

Books & Publications

Publications
- Randomized intergroup comparison of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin immunotherapy and Mitomycin C chemotherapy prophylaxis in superficial transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder
  Lamm DL, Blumenstein B, Crawford ED, Crissman J, Lowe BA, Smith Jr JA, Sarosdy MF, Schellhammer PF, Sagalowsky AI, Messing EM, Loehrer P, Grossman HB A Southwest Oncology Group Study 1995 Urol Oncol 119-126
- Lymphovascular Invasion is Independently Associated with Overall Survival, Cause-Specific Survival and Local and Distant Recurrence in Patients Treated with Radical Cystectomy with Negative Lymph Nodes
  Lotan Y, Gupta A, Shariat S, Palaputtu G,Vazina A, Karakiewicz P, Bastian P, Rogers C, Amiel G, Perotte P, Schoenberg M, Lerner S, Sagalowsky A Journal of Clinical Oncology September 2005 Vol. 23, Number 27
- Factors influencing adrenal metastasis in renal cell carcinoma
  Sagalowsky AI, Kadesky KT, Ewalt DM, Kennedy TJ J Urol 1994 151 1181-1184
- Advanced transitional cell carcinoma of the upper urinary tract: patterns of failure, survival and impact of postoperative adjuvant radiotherapy
  Hall MC, Womack JS, Roehrborn CG, Carmody T, Sagalowsky AI J Urol 1998 160 703-706
- Cobalamin profiles in patients after urinary diversion
  Sagalowsky, AI, Frenkel EP J Urol 2002 167 1696-1700
- Changing management of organ-confined renal masses
  Lotan Y, Duchene DA, Cadeddu JA, Sagalowsky AI, Koeneman KS J Endourol April 2004 18(3) 263-8
- Molecular detection of noninvasive and invasive bladder tumor tissues and exfoliated cells by aberrant promoter methylation of laminin-5 encoding genes
  Sathyanarayana UG, Maruyama R, Padar A, Suzuki M, Bondaruk J, Sagalowsky AI, Minna JD, Frenkel EP, Grossman HB, Czerniak B, Gazdar AF Cancer Res. February 2004 64(4) 1425-30
- Predictive value of primary Gleason pattern 4 in patients with Gleason score tumours treated with radical prostatectomy
  Khoddami SM, Shariat SF, Lotan Y, Saboorian H, McConnell JD, Sagalowsky AI, Roehrborn CG, Koeneman KS BJU Int. July 2004 94(1) 42-6
- The percent of biopsy cores positive for cancer is a predictor of advanced pathological stage and poor clinical outcomes in patients treated with radical prostatectomy
  Lotan Y, Shariat SF, Khoddami SM, Saboorian H, Koeneman KS, Cadeddu JA, Sagalowsky AI, McConnell JD, Roehrborn CG J Urol June 2004 171(6Pt 1) 2209-14
- Risk stratification for bladder tumor recurrence, stage and grade by urinary nuclear matrix protein 22 and cytology
  Shariat SF, Casella R, Wians FH Jr, AShfaq R, Balko J, Sulser T, Gasser TC, Sagalowsky AI Eur Urol March 2004 45(3) 304-13; author reply 313

Research

Translational studies on molecular predictors of kidney, bladder, and prostate cancer diagnosis, behavior, and treatment
Clinical trials in urological oncology