OBJECTIVES: To assess penile cancer incidence, stage distribution, adherence to guidelines, and prognostic factors in a population-based setting.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: The population-based Swedish National Penile Cancer Register (NPECR) contains detailed information on tumour characteristics and management patterns. A total of 1678 men with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the penis identified in the NPECR between 2000 and 2012 were included in the study.
RESULTS: The mean age-adjusted incidence of penile cancer was 2.1/100,000 men, remaining virtually unchanged during the study period. At diagnosis, 14% and 2% were clinically N+ and M+, respectively. Most patients were staged pTis (34%), pT2 (19%), or pT1 (18%), whereas stage was unavailable in 18%. Organ-preserving treatment was used in 71% of Tis-T1 tumours. In cN0 and ≥pT1G2 patients, 50% underwent lymph node staging, while 74% of cN1-3 patients underwent lymph node dissection. The overall 5-year relative survival was 82%. Men aged ≥40 years and those with pT2-3, G2-3 and N+ tumours had worse outcome.
CONCLUSION: The incidence of penile cancer in Sweden is stable. Most men presented with localised disease, and the proportion of non-invasive tumours was high. During the period under study, adherence to guidelines was suboptimal. The overall 5-year relative survival was 82%. Older age, increasing tumour stage and grade, and increasing lymph node stage were associated with poorer survival.
Written by:
Kirrander P, Sherif A, Friedrich B, Lambe M, Håkansson U. Are you the author?
Department of Urology, Örebro University Hospital, Örebro, Sweden.
Reference: BJU Int. 2014 Nov 14. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1111/bju.12993
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25395083