[Chemotherapy of penile carcinomas]

The value of chemotherapy in treatment of squamous epithelial carcinoma of the penis is still uncertain, and its clinical relevance is speculative. In locally delimited carcinoma (T1, T2), partial penectomy is still the first-line therapy, and the alternatives of bleomycin monotherapy or combination therapy with bleomycin and radiation should be applied only when patients rigorously reject surgery. The prospects of success are rather uncertain with these forms of treatment. Palliative chemotherapy for metastasized carcinoma has so far yielded data indicating that methotrexate administration is of therapeutic benefit, even if only for a short time. Elaborate multiple combinations must be considered critically, especially because of the appreciable burden on the patient, a rate of response that in the final analysis is still uncertain, and the small number of cases treated so far.