Penile cancer

Symptoms may include abnormal growth, an ulcer or sore on the skin of the penis, and bleeding or foul smelling discharge.

[1] Penile cancer can present as redness and irritation on the penis with a skin thickening on the glans or inner foreskin or an ulcerative, outward growing (exophytic) or “finger-like” (papillary) growth.

[4] In HPV negative cancers, the most common precursor lesion is lichen sclerosus (LS).

[4] The International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) recommends the use of p16INK4A immunostaining for the diagnosis and classification of HPV-related penile cancer.

[4] Treatment of penile cancer will vary depending on the clinical stage of the tumor at the time of diagnosis.

The most common treatment is one of five types of surgery: The role of radiation therapy includes an organ-sparing approach for early-stage penile cancer at specialized centres.

[4][9] In some South American countries, Africa, and Asia, this cancer type constitutes up to 10% of malignant diseases in men.