On Wednesday, July 27, 2016, Justin Friedlander, MD, director of endourology (endoscopic urologic surgery) and Einstein's Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center, fielded your questions in an online chat.

Dr. Friedlander specializes in the treatment of kidney and ureteral stones. He is one of the only physicians in the Philadelphia area to perform percutaneous nephrolithotomy for larger kidney stones by using x-ray guidance to gain access to the kidney, and the stone is removed through a small incision in the flank.

For stone prevention, Dr. Friedlander conducts comprehensive metabolic evaluations to develop individualized patient treatment plans.

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If you've developed kidney stones, you know that in many cases the pain can be memorable. What's more, without prevention, kidney stones are highly likely to recur.

Of course, we understand the causes of kidney stones, and we know how to treat them.

No single treatment works for every patient, so at Einstein in our Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center—led by Justin Friedlander, MD—we offer a wide variety of treatment options, including treatment for the most complex cases.

We also know how to prevent kidney stones, and we offer dedicated medical management for high risk patients.

Learn more about kidney stones and Einstein treatment options with this interactive infographic.

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Jay Simhan, MD

Jay Simhan, MD, director of Urologic Trauma, Reconstruction and Prosthetics for Einstein Healthcare Network, admits he wasn't familiar with the Philadelphia Business Journal’s 40 under 40 Awards. After he learned his name had been put forward, he did what everybody does: “I Googled it.”

Here’s what Simhan, who is 33, found: The award honors “40 individuals under the age of 40, who are proven performers in their respective industries and communities.”

Given such high standards, he didn’t expect to win. Perusing past winners, he also noticed “the overwhelming majority of them were not doctors.”

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Dr. Friedlander is director of Endourology and Einstein’s Comprehensive Kidney Stone Center. He specializes in the treatment and prevention of kidney and ureteral stones.

Perspectives: What is endourology?

Dr. Friedlander: It originally meant endoscopic, scope-related treatment of stones. It’s been broadened over the years to mean any urologic procedure that requires a scope. It encompasses minimally invasive urology, whether it be ureteroscopy for stones in the kidney, whether it be laparoscopy for removal of a kidney, or robotic surgery—it’s all under the umbrella of endourology. It was a term coined by one of my mentors at the Smith Institute for Urology. His name is Arthur Smith (MD, chairman emeritus of the Department of Urology at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center). He’s thought of as the father of Endourology. I was very fortunate to have worked with him.

Perspectives: How did that happen, and how did you decide to get into this field?

Dr. Friedlander: I was interviewing for residencies and, not knowing what I specifically wanted, I happened to go into that program. It was my top choice. I was fortunate. They had a fellow in urology but as I was transitioning from general surgery to urology, that fellow did not come to do his fellowship. I was the junior resident on service and for whatever reason, my upper-year colleagues didn’t really want to do much of the kidney stone cases, which I realize now is because they went later into the evening. Every Tuesday and Thursday, you were there late.

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“You can see I’m a talker,” says Preston Forchion, with a deep laugh that seems to start in the soles of his shoes and reverberate up to the top of his 6’3” frame.

And it’s a good thing he is, because Forchion, a retired bus mechanic for New Jersey Transit from Hammonton, NJ, has something important he wants to talk about, and he wants other men to hear it.

We’re sitting in a diner just off the Atlantic City Expressway, and we’re talking about Forchion’s years of unhappiness caused by erectile dysfunction.

It seems an unusually public place to have the conversation, and although he’s not exactly shouting from the rooftops, he believes it’s important to speak openly about a problem that afflicts more than 33 million men nationwide, and more than half of all men 65 and older.

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Men talk to other men about a lot of things, from whether it’s worth following the Eagles at all to the latest office scuttlebutt, but they’re often a lot less likely to talk about their health—particularly when the subject of their health concerns lies below the belt.

Jay Simhan, MD, is Director of Urologic Trauma, Reconstruction and Prosthetics for Einstein Urology and the Einstein Healthcare Network, and he’s completely aware of men’s reticence when it comes to issues such as erectile dysfunction (ED), male urinary incontinence and prostate health.  But put men in a safe place, surrounded by other men who have the same concerns, and it’s a different story, Dr. Simhan says.

Men will soon have an opportunity to talk with each other, and hear from Simhan and his partner, Einstein urologist Steve Sterious, MD, as well as men just like themselves, at an Einstein-sponsored community health event on Tuesday, November 10, at Crowne Plaza King of Prussia, 260 Mall Boulevard, in King of Prussia.

It’s not the first such event Drs. Simhan and Sterious have conducted, and Dr. Simhan has found them to be quite popular.

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If you think you've tried everything, you probably haven't

Valentine's Day is a day away, and that means a weekend filled with red hearts--and for some--little blue pills.

But sometimes ED doesn't respond to pharmaceuticals.

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