Organ-preserving surgeries for penile cancer have been described to reduce the morbidity associated with traditional operations.
Patients derive better functional outcomes from penile-preserving surgery, although local recurrence rates can be higher. Excellent results can be obtained at large-volume centres. With close follow-up, local recurrences can be identified and treated promptly (often with further local excision).
OBJECTIVE:To describe the outcomes of organ-preserving surgery for penile cancer at a UK tertiary referral centre.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:Patients at Sunderland Hospital (UK) between 2001 and 2008 who had squamous cell tumours limited to the glans penis underwent penile-preserving surgery including total glansectomy and glanuloplasty, partial glansectomy, glans relining and distal penectomy with glans reconstruction. Recurrence rates, cosmetic and functional outcomes were recorded.
RESULTS:In all, 65 patients were identified with a median follow-up of 40 months. Local recurrence was present in four patients (6%) despite 72% having intermediate or poorly differentiated tumours and 30% with T2 disease. Complications included partial graft loss (1.5%), graft contractures (4.5%) and meatal stenosis (7.5%). In all, 5% were deemed to have poor cosmetic outcome and 85% described good erections at 1 year after surgery.
CONCLUSION: Penile-preserving surgery can achieve good penile cancer control with minimal morbidity and reduced psychosexual side-effects.
Written by:
Veeratterapillay R, Sahadevan K, Aluru P, Asterling S, Rao GS, Greene D. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Sunderland Royal Hospital, UK Department of Plastic Surgery, University Hospital Durham, UK.
Reference: BJU Int. 2012 May 2. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2012.11084.x
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22551234
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