Department / Division:
Surgery / Urology

Address:
DUMC 3314
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-684-5235

Office Telephone:
919-684-5235
URL: philipwalther.com

Fax Telephone:
919-684-3805

• MD, PhD, Duke University School of Medicine, 1975

• Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, 1975-1976
• Surgery, University of California, Los Angeles, 1976-1977
• Urologic Surgery, University of California, Los Angeles, 1977-1981

• American Cancer Society Clinical Fellow, 1983-1984

Clinical Interests:
Urologic oncology, including prostate cancer surgery (such as robotic prostatectomy and nerve-sparing prostatectomy); surgery for testis cancer (such as nerve-sparing retroperitoneal lymph-node dissection), bladder cancer (including continent reservoirs or neo-bladders), and kidney cancer (including tumor thrombectomy); laparoscopic nephrectomy and systemic immunotherapy for kidney cancer; prostate cancer staging; chemotherapy for bladder and prostate cancer; clinical trials in bladder, kidney, and prostate cancer, including neoadjuvant treatment for high-risk prostate cancer; prostate cancer chemoprevention

Research Interests:
1. DEVELOPMENTAL THERAPEUTICS OF SYSTEMIC UROLOGIC CANCER
A continuation of an ongoing effort in preclinical screening for effective new agents for the treatment of urologic malignancy-especially bladder and prostate - particular addressing issues of drug synergy.

2. p53 MUTATIONS IN PROSTATE CANCER
The presence of p53 mutations in malignancy has been considered an important genetic change in the multistep process of carcinogenesis-including radiation failure.

3. ASSOCIATION OF ONCOGENIC TYPES OF HUMAN PAPILLOMAVIRUS WITH UROLOGIC MALIGNANCY
Oncogenic types of HPV may be an important promoter-initiator of carcinogenesis in a variety of epithelia.  Using polymerase chain reaction, we have analysed clinical specimens of urologic malignancy.

4. TREATMENT OF RENAL CANCER WITH GAMMA-INTERFERON
Principal Investigator (Duke site) for multi-institutional Phase II-III trial to determine the efficacy of this biologic response modifer.

5. ANDROGEN RECEPTOR-MEDIATED TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION IN ANDROGEN-DEPENDENT HUMAN PROSTATE CANCER XENOGRAFT

Representative Publications:
Demark-Wahnefried W, Price DT, Polascik TJ, Robertson CN, Anderson EE, Paulson DF, Walther PJ, Gannon M, Vollmer RT. Pilot study of dietary fat restriction and flaxseed supplementation in men with prostate cancer before surgery: exploring the effects on hormonal levels, prostate-specific antigen, and histopathologic features. Urology. 2001 Jul;58(1):47-52. (2001) Abstract

Chang CY, Walther PJ, McDonnell DP. Glucocorticoids manifest androgenic activity in a cell line derived from a metastatic prostate cancer. Cancer Res. 2001 Dec 15;61(24):8712-7. (2001) Abstract

Walther, PJ. Tumors of the kidney, renal pelvis and ureter, bladder and urethra. Merck Manual of Geriatrics, Edition 3, 2000. (2000)

Walther PJ. Time for a neoadjuvant chemotherapy strategy in prostate cancer? Curr Opin Urol. 2000 May;10(3):225-7. (2000) Abstract

Walther PJ. Contemporary chemotherapeutic approaches for the treatment of hormone-refractory prostate carcinoma. World J Urol. 2000 Jun;18(3):216-21. (2000) Abstract

Denmark-Wahnefried W, Schildkraut JM, Thompson D, Lesko SM, McIntyre L, Schwingl P, Paulson DF, Robertson CN, Anderson EE, Walther PJ. Early onset baldness and prostate cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2000 Mar;9(3):325-8. (2000) Abstract