Carcinoma of the penis

Thirty-five patients with carcinoma of the penis were treated at the teaching hospitals of West Virginia University Medical Center during the last 15 years. All cases were epidermoid carcinoma except for one case of melanoma. Factors adversely affecting prognosis were (1) the presence of clinically palpable lymph nodes, (2) age over 65 at diagnosis, (3) location of the lesion on the shaft of the penis, (4) high stage and poor differentiation of the lesion, (5) primary lesions requiring total penectomy, and (6) proven metastases to lymph nodes.