[Clinical study of carcinoma of the penis]

We reviewed six cases of carcinoma of the penis seen at our department during the last 12 years. The mean age and mean followup period were 56 +/- 11 years and 53 +/- 42 months, respectively. Inguinal lymphadenopathy was evident in all patients, one of whom was diagnosed as having nodal metastasis because of the persistence of adenopathy after antimicrobial therapy. Four patients, had Jackson Stage 1, 1 Stage 2 and 1 Stage 3 cancer. The patient with Stage 3 cancer underwent total penectomy and bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy. He died of cancer 2 years after the operation. The 5 patients with stage 1 or 2 underwent partial penectomy without lymphadenectomy. Pathological examination showed moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 2 patients with stage 2 and 3 cancer, well differentiated SCC in 3 and verrucous carcinoma in the other patient with stage 1 cancer. Prophylactic external radiation therapy to the groin was performed in 3 of the 4 patients with invasion to corpus spongiosum (pT2). Two of the 3 patients developed mild radiation dermatitis, and no major complications were observed. The 5 patients with clinically negative nodes showed no evidence of recurrence after surgery. As reported by others, inguinal node metastasis appears to worsen the prognosis of patients with carcinoma of the penis.