Raffles Shield Panel Specialists

FEM SURGERY @ NOVENA

Dr Png Keng Siang is a United States fellowship trained urologist who received his urology specialist board certification from Singapore. He is the first and only urologist in Singapore to be inducted into the Fellow, American College of Surgeons (F.A.C.S.) after completing a minimally invasive surgery fellowship in the USA at the Indiana University School of Medicine, where he sub-specialised in robotic and laparoscopic surgery for urological cancers.

Prior to entering private practice, he was Director of the Robotic Urological Surgery Fellowship Program at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Director of the National Healthcare Group Urology Residency Program and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Urological Association, Endourological Society (USA) and served on the Executive Committee of the Singapore Urological Association from 2013 to 2020. Currently, he serves as the Joint Committee of Specialist Training Site Accreditor for the Urology Residency Program and is the President of the Robotic Surgery Society of Singapore. Dr Png is a versatile surgeon who can perform a wide range of minimally invasive procedures.

Between standard key-hole laparoscopy and robot-assisted surgery, Dr Png is adept in both approaches, customising each patient’s unique scenario in offering the best minimally invasive technique. He uses innovative techniques such as off-clamp or selective clamping, fluorescent
surgery with near-infrared imaging as adjuncts to improve outcomes in his operations. Dr Png has trained numerous urologists both locally and abroad in robotic surgery. As the Director of Robotic Urological Surgery in TTSH, he has proctored over 150 robotic procedures and trained fellows from India and Nepal. He was invited to kickstart the robotic surgical program in Ho Chi Minh City at Binh Dan Hospital by performing the first 3 robotic urological operations over 2 days in the history of Vietnam. Dr Png participates actively in academic and policy developments of robotic surgery in Singapore. He held the position of Chairman Robotic Review Committee from 2014-2018 in Tan Tock Seng Hospital, overseeing the training and accreditation of all robotic surgeons in the hospital. Nationally, he was instrumental in developing the policy of the use of robotic surgery in the public sector over the years. He was member of the Ministry of Health Health Technology Assessment Committee for Robotic Surgery in 2015, and subsequently appointed as the only urologist in the national workgroup in 2018. He also played advisory roles in the pre-launch commercial evaluations of novel robotic platforms. Dr Png has chaired numerous masterclasses in robotic surgery and was the Urology Chairman of the inaugural Asian Summit on Robotic Surgery in 2018. He regularly chairs video sessions at the American Urological Association (AUA) and was invited to speak on robotic surgery in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Philippines and Malaysia. He has published his experience and written review articles on robotic surgery in peer-reviewed journals and his surgical videos are published in the AUA Surgical Video Library and the Journal of Videourology. He reviews manuscripts and surgical videos regularly for the Journal of Endourology and Journal of Videourology. He was Founding Life Member and Honorary Secretary of Robotic Surgery Society of Singapore, before becoming its President in 2022.

He is Member of the Society of Urological Robotic Surgeons (USA) and the only urologist from Singapore to sit on its Education Committee. He is also member of the Endourological Society and International Member of the American Urological Association. Men with suspected prostate cancer expect a rapid and focused diagnostic process. Dr Png believes in avoiding unnecessary prostate biopsy for men with raised Prostate Specific Antigen(PSA). Through an integrated decision matrix comprising of multiparametric MRI, advanced PSA molecular markers and MRI-targeted fusion biopsy, a customized diagnostic pathway is created for each patient. He co-authored a paper of this approach in a study of over 100 Singaporean men. This approach not only avoided unnecessary biopsy but also improved the accuracy of detecting high-risk cancer. Based
on this expertise, he has advised the Ministry of Health in 2018 on the value of using MRI Targeted Prostate Biopsy for men with previous negative biopsy and men on active surveillance for low-risk prostate cancer.

At the Urology Centre at FeM Surgery, Dr Png performs targeted prostate biopsies via 2 approaches. The transrectal approach is for patients who require standard targeted biopsy under local anaesthesia or sedation. The transperineal approach, done through the skin, has almost no infection risk. This is reserved for patients who require multiple cores of biopsy. Based on each patient’s unique characteristics, Dr Png will formulate a customised treatment approach. Dr Png has experience in over 200 cases of robot-assisted radical prostatectomy(RARP) for prostate cancer. Learning from Geisinger Medical Centre in the US, he pioneered a RARP pathway consisting of 16 evidence-based best practices. All his RARP patients therefore undergo this pathway. Besides surgery for prostate cancer, Dr Png also treats advanced prostate cancer with
standard and novel forms of hormone therapy. He engages a multi-disciplinary team of medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, nuclear medicine specialist to improve survival for these patients.

Dr Png provides a wide range of treatment solutions for benign conditions of the prostate gland. Most prostate conditions can be treated effectively with modern pharmaceutical treatment, thus avoiding surgery. BPH can also be treated surgically with a suite of surgical options. Besides standard transurethral resection of prostate (TURP), Dr Png can offer other options such as prostate enucleation, Greenlight laser vaporization, Rezum water vapour therapy or microwave thermodilatation, depending on each patient’s prostate size and shape and his medical conditions.
Depending on the site and size of urinary stones, the treatment of each patient’s urinary stone must be individualized. Some stones can be simply observed without treatment. Other stones may require one of many surgical options for stone treatment. Dr Png is an expert in endourological treatment of kidney stones and has performed “live” surgery in Myanmar as part of Asian School of Urology educational series. Dr Png’s special interest is in treating large stones in the upper ureter, using one of 3 possible techniques to treat such challenging stones, and he recently shared his opinions online in the peer-reviewed Urology Times on this topic. Dr Png’s other interest is medical prevention and treatment of stone disease, having trained with Professor Sharon Moe of the Department of Nephrology in Indiana University.
Through a research grant from the National Kidney Foundation in 2008, he conducted the only local prospective study of metabolic disorders in patients at high risk of urinary stone recurrence, and identified the most common metabolic disorders in this group of patients.
Patients with repeated stone attacks can be effectively treated with dietary control and medication to prevent further stone episodes.

Besides his clinical interests, Dr Png has served as Program Director of the National Healthcare Group Urology Residency Programme from 2013 to 2018. During his tenure, he had led the Program to 2 successful accreditation exercises by the Joint Committee of
Specialist Training, culminating in his appointment as Member of the JCST Panel of Site Accreditors from 2018 to 2020. He worked with NTU researchers on how to improve doctors’ communication skills with patients through novel conversational analysis techniques. Dr Png continues to provide mentorship and training through his academic activities in the Singapore Urological Association and the Robotic Surgery Society of Singapore and serves as examiners at Urology Specialty examinations.

MBBS (NUS, Singapore) 2000
M Med (Surg) (NUS, Singapore) 2006
FRCS (Urology) (RCPS, Glasgow, United Kingdom) 2011