Should the Surgical Management of Buschke-Lowenstein Tumors Be Aggressive? About 10 Cases

Buschke-Lowenstein tumor (BLT) of the anal margin is a histologically benign tumor whose degeneration can lead to a deadly local evolution because of difficult and late diagnosis. The objective of this study was to report our experience and propose a therapeutic strategy for these rare tumors.

From 1996 to 2014, 10 men with a median age of 45 years (25-64) were treated for a BLT of the anal margin with a first local excision possibly followed by rectal amputation.

Local perianal excision was curative in 6 cases without recurrence. The median follow-up time was 94.5 months (5-175). In 4 patients, local excision was followed by an early recurrence, justifying a complementary abdominoperineal excision (APE) of the rectum. Two patients who benefited from complementary resection are currently free from recurrence. Even if the postoperative course was uneventful, 2 died from recurrence and disease progression within 5 and 11 postoperative months each.

Macroscopic surgical evaluation of local tumoral invasion and extensive radical resection appears to be associated with long-term survival without recurrence. When recurrence occurs, APE of the rectum seems to be the only curative alternative. Based on low level of evidence, surgical excision is currently the only standard treatment for these lesions.