[Take care of penile cancer]

The role of the nurse in the management of penile cancer sometimes used to make the diagnosis when the discovery of a suspicious lesion but also participates in the patient information on the therapeutic orientation and support for care. The purpose of this article is to make a focus of the management of penile cancer for nurses.

A literature search on Pubmed was performed to make a focus on the management of penile cancer.

Penile cancer is a rare tumor that occurs in mostly older people (over 60 years). The diagnosis of penile precancerous lesions is essential and can be made fortuitously by the nurse during care or catheterization. The staging of the penile tumor is based on clinical examination could be aided by MRI with a penile erection test. The treatment of penile tumor is conservative whenever possible. The first lymph node involvement is inguinal. Lymph node invasion is the most important prognostic value. Supported of the Lymph nodes must be systematic, bilateral and performed at diagnosis. The assessment is based on clinical examination, sentinel lymph node biopsy and (18)F-FDG PET-CT. Inguinal lymphadenectomy alone has a curative role and type of lymph node dissections is based on physical examination and staging. In some cases it may be associated with adjuvant or neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The problem is that penile cancer is a rare tumor for which the urological team is little confronted which can lead to defects in support care while national or international recommendations exist.