Urooncology, Minimally Invasive Surgeries (MIS) in Urooncology and Robotic Surgery

• Dr. Ashwin Sunil Tamhankar specializes in cancer surgeries (open/ laparoscopic/ robotic) related to urological system, which would involve cancers of prostate, kidney, urinary bladder, adrenals, testicles and penis. He is been a part of nearly 280 various robotic procedures in Urology out which he has had a role as a primary surgeon in approximately 90 cases.
• He has gained thorough and dedicated training in robotic surgeries including the accreditation by the Royal College of Surgeons of England and British Association of Urological Surgeons, which is one of the most prestigious achievements in this field across the globe.
• His special interest lies in diagnostic and therapeutic pathways for the cancers in urology and he holds research publications as a lead author in most of his area of expertise. Procedure specific, he has been trained in following procedures

1. Nerve sparing robot assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) for cancer prostate (Holds a publication as the first author)

2. Intra-operative frozen section analysis for the cancer prostate for the enhanced nerve sparing

3. Open and robotic radical cystectomy for the bladder cancer (ORC / RARC)

4. Total robotic radical cystectomy (intracorporeal diversion – reconstruction of the urinary diversion with the robot) (RARC + IUD) which is practically the most challenging procedure in the urological armamentarium

5. Robot assisted radical nephroureterectomy with bladder cuff excision (RNU) for the upper tract urothelial carcinoma (variant of kidney cancer)

6. Robot assisted partial nephrectomy or radical nephrectomy for the kidney cancer (RAPN/ RRN)

7. Transperineal (TP) prostate biopsy for diagnosis of prostate cancer (He holds the landmark publication as the first author for the data over half a million biopsies done in the UK NHS over a decade comparing the outcomes of the transperineal approach over a conventional transrectal (TR) approach elaborating on the advantages of the TP approach over TR).

8. Blue light cystoscopy for the diagnosis of bladder cancer

9. Surgeries (open and minimally invasive) for cancer penis with groin node dissection

10. Surgeries for the testicular cancer including retroperitoneal lymph node dissection

11. His special interest also lies in the preventive oncology and he is a strong believer of the standard health check up especially for prostate cancer (serum PSA and examination) considering the very high global prevalence of the same

12. Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathway is a unique entity which helps patients to recover earlier leading to early mobilization and discharge. He is a strong supporter of this concept and has published the work on the same for patients undergoing robot assisted radical cystectomy (RARC + ERAS)

13.  Lymphadenectomy, an inevitable part of the cancer operation, is the key area which he specializes in for better prognostication of the patient after the surgery

• Consultant Uro-oncologist and Robotic Surgeon at the Apollo Hospital, Navi Mumbai
• Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England - Lister Urological Robotic Fellowship approved by the RCS and the British Association of Urological Surgeon (BAUS), Lister Hospital, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, Stevenage, United Kingdom (June 2019 - May 2020)
• Specialist Senior Registrar – Department of Uro-oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai (August 2018 - May 2019)
• Olympus Laparoscopic Endo-Urology Fellowship- Asian Institute of Nephrology and Urology (AINU), Hyderabad (May 2018 - July 2017)  
• Vattikuti Robotic Uro-oncology Fellowship - Max Institute of Cancer Care, New Delhi (February 2017 – February 2018)
• MCh Urology residency training - Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital (LTMMC & LTMGH), Mumbai (August 2013- July 2016)

• Life membership - Urological Society of India (USI)
• Member of the American Urology Association (AUA)
• Member of the European urological Association (EAU)
• Member of the Société Internationale d'Urologie (SIU)
• Member of Mumbai Urological Association (MUS)
• Member of West zone Urological Association, India (WZ- USI)
• Member of North zone Urological Association, India (NZ- USI)
• Member of the General Medical Council, UK (GMC)

• Certificate of Completion Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) of England - Lister Urological Robotic Fellowship approved by the RCS and the British Association of Urological Surgeon (BAUS)(June 2019- May 2020)
• Certificate of Completion- Advanced Robotic Surgery Training Fellowship in Urooncology- Vattikuti Foundation (February 2017- February 2018)
• Invited National faculty as a chairperson for the moderated video session in Robotics and Urooncology at USICON 2019
• Invited National faculty in the talk on “Fellowship opportunities after MCh/ DNB urology”
• Invited National faculty in the talk on “Subspecialty practice in Urology”
• Member of the panel for formulation of guidelines on Urooncology for the urological Society of India
• Third position in Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) in Examination for MCh Urology - certificate of merit
• Received Dr. G. M. Phadke travelling fellowship 2016 - Second prize at the National level
• Dr. Sitharaman memorial prize for best essay for year 2018 - topic “Future of Urology Research in India” - First prize at the National level
• Dr Brij Kihore Patna prize paper for the best scientific paper in USICON 2019 - First prize at the National level
• “USI Got Talent” – Best scientific paper in USICON 2020 - First prize at the National level
• “Late Shri K. Subramaniam Memorial Video Award” as a presenting author in Robotic Surgeons Council meet (RSC) India, Chennai 2017 –Second prize at the National level
• Best video presentation in RUFCON 2017- Robotic Urology Forum of India conference – second prize at the National level
• Dr. A V Baliga Memorial prize for standing first in MS General Surgery in KEM Hospital, Mumbai.
• Maharashtra state chapter of ASI 2012- Surgical quiz- First prize in state of Maharashtra

• Dr. Ashwin Sunil Tamhankar has published extensively in the field of urooncology and he holds 48 peer reviewed publication in various international and national journals including Indian Journal of Urology and British Journal of Urology International.
• Till now he has presented 30 papers in various national and international urology conferences including European Association of Urology Annual conference, Copenhagen 2018, European Robotic Urology Section of European Association of Urology Conference (ERUS), Belgium 2017 and American Association of Urology (AUA) annual conference, Boston 2017.
• He is a member of the committee for the formulation of the guidelines in urooncology under the aegis of Urological society of India (USI) for prostate cancer, bladder cancer and penile cancer.
• He is a regular reviewer of five journals including the Journal of Robotic Surgery, Indian Journal of Urology and the Journal of Endourology.
• He has a very special interest in clinical research and he is a part of two randomized controlled trials pertaining to the robotic prostatectomy for prostate cancer including six various projects approved by ethics committee in urology in his previous commitments.  

List of the peer reviewed publications:

• Detailed list available on - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=ashwin+tamhankar and https://scholar.google.com/scholar?start=0&q=ashwin+tamhankar&hl=en&as_sdt=0,5
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Omar El-Taji, Nikhil Vasdev, Charlotte Foley, Rick Popert, Jim Adshead The clinical and financial implications of a decade of prostate biopsies in the NHS - interrogation of the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) Data 2008-2019 - BJU Int. 2020 Jul;126(1):133-141.
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Neil Spencer, Alex Hampson, Ranjan Arianayagam, Omar-El Taji, Gregory Boustead, Tom Macnicholas, Venkat Prasad, Gowrie Mohan, Tim Lane, Jim Adshead, Nikhil Vasdev . Real-time assessment of learning curve for robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy. Ann R Coll Surg Engl 2020; 00: 1–9. doi 10.1308/rcsann.2020.0139
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Alexander Hampson, Omar El Taji, Ramesh Thurairaja, John Kelly, James Catto, Jim Adshead, Nikhil Vasdev ‘‘Radical Cystectomy (Open, Laparoscopic and Robotic) in 12,625 patients in England: National trends, Peri-operative outcomes and Cost analysis from Hospital Episode Statistics data’’ BJU Int. 2020
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Saurabh Patil, Puneet Ahluwalia, Gagan Gautam*. Does continuation of low dose aspirin during robot assisted radical prostatectomy compromise surgical outcomes? J Endourol. 2018; 32(9): 852-8.
• Tamhankar AS, Patil S, Ahluwalia P, Gautam G*. Robot Assisted Radical Nephroureterectomy with Extended Template Lymphadenectomy for upper tract urothelial carcinoma – An outcome analysis. Indian J Urol. 2018; 34(3):212-18.
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Puneet Ahluwalia, Saurabh patil, Sujata Nambiath, Gagan Gautam. Implementation of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) protocol in patients undergoing Robot Assisted Radical Cystectomy with Intracorporeal Ileal Conduit Urinary Diversion for Bladder Cancer: An outcome analysis beyond the learning curve- Indian Journal of Urology 2020 Jan-Mar;36(1):37-43
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Ravindra Sabnis, Gagan Gautam. "Are we ready for Urological subspecialty based practice in India? - The resident's perspective". Indian J Urol. 2019; 35(1):54-60.
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Saurabh Patil, Surya Prakash Ojha, Puneet Ahluwalia, Gagan Gautam. Therapeutic supine robotic retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for post chemotherapy residual masses in testicular cancer–Technique and outcome analysis of initial experience. J Robot Surg. 2019 Dec;13(6):747-756.
• Nambiath S, Raj T, Ashwin Tamhankar, Gagan Gautam. A randomised trial to compare the increase in intracranial pressure as correlated with the optic nerve sheath diameter during propofol versus sevoflurane-maintained anesthesia in robotic-assisted laparoscopic pelvic surgery. J Robotic Surg 2019 Apr;13(2):267-273.
• Sunil P, Prakash P, Ajit S, Akshay P, SayaleeN, Shankar M, Abhishek S, Tamhankar A. Trus biopsy yield in Indian population: a retrospective analysis. J Clin Diagn Res. 2017 Feb;11(2):PC01-PC05
• Mallikarjuna C, Ashwin Tamhankar *, Syed G, Taif B, Reddy PC, Deepak R. "Laparoscopic nephrectomy simplified - a "two window technique" for safer approach to hilum for a novice". Indian J Urol. 2018; 34(4):254-8.
• Tamhankar AS* Future of Urology Research in India. Indian J Urol. 2018; 34(3):185-8.
• Mallikarjuna C, Syed G, Ashwin Tamhankar. "Polar flip" technique for transperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy- evolution of a novel technique for posterior hilar tumors" Indian J Urol. 2019
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Harit Chaturvedi, Gagan Gautam. Beyond traditional frontiers: Robotic Total Pelvic Exenteration. International Brazilian Journal of Urology
• Puneet Ahluwalia, Ashwin Tamhankar, Gagan Gautam. “Robotic radical nephrectomy and inferior vena cava thrombectomy: exploring the newer frontiers! International Brazilian Journal of Urology
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Surya Ojha, Gagan Gautam. Technical caveats in robot assisted video endoscopic inguinal lymph node dissection- evolution of a modified technique. International Brazilian Journal of Urology
• Ashwin Tamhankar, Saurabh Patil, Puneet Ahluwalia, Gagan Gautam. Current status of lymphadenectomy during radical nephroureterectomy for upper tract urothelial cancer - Yes, No or May be? Indian J Surg Oncol. 2018; 9(3):418-26.
• 18. Tamhankar AS, Gautam G. Robot-assisted versus laparoscopic radical nephrectomy. Natl Med J India. 2018 Jul-Aug;31(4):221-222.