Anthony J. Costello Explained

Birth Place:Melbourne, Australia
Anthony J. Costello
Known For:Robotic surgery
Work Institutions:
Prizes:
  • Member of the Order of Australia (2015)

Anthony James Costello, FRACS, FRCSI, is an Australian urologist. He served as head of the department of urology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia. He established the first robotic prostate cancer surgery programme in Australia and published the first series of men who had laser surgery for benign prostate enlargements.

Costello has been an advocate for PSA testing in men and robotic surgery for prostate removal in treating prostate cancer. Based on microdissections of cadavers, he described the anatomy of the nerves near the prostate, significant for preserving erectile function.

Early life and education

Anthony Costello was born in St Vincent's Hospital, Melbourne. His father was an Australian Air Force pilot and general practitioner who practiced from home, where his mother stayed with their eight children. His ancestors had emigrated from Ireland in the mid 1800s.[1]

Between 1957 and 1966 he attended Xavier College, and then studied at Newman College, a residential college of the University of Melbourne. He gained his medical degree in 1972 from the University of Melbourne, Medical School.[1] [2]

Career

In 1981 Costello completed a fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, under the supervision of urological surgeon Douglas E. Johnson. Subsequently, he spent five years back in Melbourne and then took a sabbatical as a returning fellow in Houston in 1989, when he developed an interest in emerging technologies relating to prostate cancer. He then returned to Melbourne in 1990 and became head of the unit at St. Vincent's.[2] [3]

He established an international urologic-oncology fellowship programme. In 1992, he published the first series of men who had laser surgery for benign prostate enlargements using the .[4] In 1999, he was appointed head of urology at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, where, in 2001, he established a laboratory for prostate cancer research at its Department of Surgery. He also helped establish the Victorian Prostate Cancer Foundation.[1] [5]

In 2003, he began using the da Vinci Surgical robot for prostate surgery at his private practice in Epworth Hospital in Richmond, and established the first robotic prostate cancer surgery programme in Australia.[6]

Costello has been an advocate for PSA testing in men and robotic surgery for prostate removal in treating prostate cancer.[7] [8] He popularised the use of an endoscopic closure device for raising the prostate during robotic assisted radical prostatectomy.[9] Based on a series of microdissections of cadavers, he described the anatomy of the nerves near the prostate in detail, significant for preserving erectile function.[10] With his colleagues, he has questioned the neuroanatomy relating to the prostate gland and felt that the nerves located within the "veil of Aphrodite" (veil of tissue) mainly provide the nerve supply to the prostate, rather than to the corpora cavernosa for sexual function.[11] [12] [13] [14]

Urologists he trained include Ben Challacombe and Declan G. Murphy.[15] [16]

Awards and honours

Costello is an honorary fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, a member of the American Association of Genitourinary Surgeons, and on the board of the Australian Prostate Centre.[17]

In 2015, he became a member of the Order of Australia “for significant service to medicine in the field of urology as a clinician, administrator and author, to cancer research, and to medical education”. The following year he became the first honorary life member of Irish Association of Urologists.

In 2017 he was awarded the St Pauls Medal by the British Urological Association.[18] [19]

Personal and family

As a student Costello had been captain of football and swimming teams and later took up running. Of his siblings, four became doctors, one a judge and one a teacher.

In his 30s, he owned a vineyard and made wine. He is married and has grandchildren.

Selected publications

Notes and References

  1. August 2011. An interview with Anthony Costello, MD FRACS FRCSI (hon) MBBS: FACE TO FACE. BJU International. en. 108. 3. 303–304. 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2011.10327.x. 221530707.
  2. https://tonycostello.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/AJC-CV-Dec-2014.pdf Curriculum Vitae
  3. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Anthony_Costello3 "Profile Anthony Costello
  4. Book: Lerner. Lori B.. https://books.google.com/books?id=lPWwBAAAQBAJ&q=Anthony+Costello+urologist&pg=PA49. Treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Modern Alternative to Transurethral Resection of the Prostate. Shirk. Joseph. Nimeh. Tony. 2014. Springer. 978-1-4939-1586-6. Bilal Chughtai. Bilal. 49. en. 9. Holmium Ablation of Prostate. Te. Alexis E.. Kaplan. Steven A..
  5. Web site: Urology The Royal Melbourne Hospital. 10 October 2020. www.thermh.org.au. en.
  6. 1 July 2010. Prostate Cancer Care Down Under. BJU International. 106. 2. ii–v. 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2010.09476.x. 20645976. 41302878. 1464-4096. Costello. A..
  7. Web site: Medew. Julia. 1 August 2012. Cancer treatment 'hijacking' a fallacy: urologists. 4 October 2020. The Sydney Morning Herald. en.
  8. MacKenzie. Ross. Chapman. Simon. Holding. Simon. McGeechan. Kevin. November 2007. 'A matter of faith, not science': analysis of media coverage of prostate cancer screening in Australian news media 2003–2006. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 100. 11. 513–521. 10.1177/014107680710001114. 0141-0768. 2099410. 18048709.
  9. Book: McLoughlin. John. Top Tips in Urology. Burgess. Neil. Motiwala. Hanif. Speakman. Mark J.. Doble. Andrew. Kelly. John. 4 March 2013. John Wiley & Sons. 978-0-470-67293-8. en.
  10. Book: Challacombe. Ben. https://books.google.com/books?id=bJoSWZwoNb4C&pg=PA252. Robotics in Genitourinary Surgery. Costello. Anthony J.. 2011. Springer. 978-1-84882-114-9. Menon. Mani. 252. en. 21. Transferring knowledge of anatomical dissection from the laboratory to the patient: An Australian perspective. Ashok Kumar. Hemal.
  11. Mandhani. Anil. 2009. Prostatic fascia and recovery of sexual function after radical prostatectomy: Is it a "Veil of Aphrodite" or "Veil of mystery"!. Indian Journal of Urology . 25. 1. 146–148. 10.4103/0970-1591.45558. 0970-1591. 2684308. 19468450 . free .
  12. Book: Eichel. Louis. https://books.google.com/books?id=E8P3DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA61. Urinary Continence and Sexual Function After Robotic Radical Prostatectomy. Skarecky. Douglas. Ahlering. Thomas E.. Springer. 2016. 978-3-319-39446-6. Sanjay Razdan. 61. 4. Pathophysiology of nerve injury and its effect on return of erectile function.
  13. Hyun Park. Yong. Jeong. Chang Wook. Eun Lee. Sang. 1 December 2013. A comprehensive review of neuroanatomy of the prostate. Prostate International. en. 1. 4. 139–45. 10.12954/PI.13020. 24392437. 3879050. 2287-8882.
  14. Book: Dasgupta. Prokar. https://books.google.com/books?id=Js9E7K_NsQcC&pg=PA176. New Technologies in Urology. Fitzpatrick. John M.. Kirby. Roger. Gill. Inderbir S.. Springer Science & Business Media. 2010. 978-1-84882-177-4. 176. 21. Technologies for imaging the neurovasular bundle during prostatectomy. Prokar Dasgupta. John M. Fitzpatrick. Roger Kirby. Indy Gill.
  15. Web site: Margo. Jill. 8 March 2019. Stephen Fry and his surgeon describe how it felt to treat his prostate cancer. 4 October 2020. Australian Financial Review. en.
  16. Web site: 13 September 2011. Upwardly mobile life in a land down under. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20171121003107/https://www.imt.ie/features-opinion/upwardly-mobile-life-in-a-land-down-under-13-09-2011/. 21 November 2017. 4 October 2020. Irish Medical Times. en-GB.
  17. Web site: Board of Directors. 10 October 2020. Australian Prostate Cancer Centre.
  18. Web site: AUA 2019 Annual Meeting. 4 October 2020. eventscribe.com.
  19. https://www.baus.org.uk/_userfiles/pages/files/BAUS%202017%20Preliminary%20Programme.pdf "BAUS 2017 Glasgow Annual Meeting

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