Minimal Invasive Management of Lymph Nodes

Penile cancer is a rare genitourinary malignancy. Lymph node involvement is the single most important factor determining survival in these patients, and those patients with occult disease are difficult to identify on conventional cross-sectional imaging. Until recently, lymph node sampling (eg, lymphadenectomy) has been the diagnostic modality of choice in the detection of micrometastasis. More recently, several novel molecular and minimally invasive diagnostic techniques have been developed, which have been demonstrated to decrease the false-negative and -positive results of conventional imaging and lymphadenectomy. This article focuses on the minimally invasive management of lymph nodes in men with penile cancer.