Treatment of penile carcinoma: To cut or not to cut?

Ozsahin, Mahmut; Jichlinski, Patrice; Weber, Damien C.; Azria, David; Zimmermann, Michel; Guillou, Louis; Bulling, Shelley; Moeckli, Raphael; Mirimanoff, René O.; Zouhair, Abderrahim

doi:10.1016/j.ijrobp.2006.05.053

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Volume 66, Issue 3 , Pages 674-679, 1 November 2006

Treatment of penile carcinoma: To cut or not to cut?

Presented at the Forty Sixth Annual Meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO), Atlanta, GA, October 3–9, 2004, and at the Twenty Third Annual Meeting of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ESTRO), Amsterdam, the Netherlands, October 24–28, 2004.

Mahmut Ozsahin, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Patrice Jichlinski, M.D.
- Department of Urology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Damien C. Weber, M.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Hôpital Cantonal Universitaire, Geneva, Switzerland
David Azria, M.D., Ph.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Radiation Oncology, INSERM EMI 0227, CRLC Paul Lamarque-Val d’Aurelle, Montpellier, France
Michel Zimmermann, M.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Louis Guillou, M.D.
- Department of Pathology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Shelley Bulling, M.S.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Raphael Moeckli, Ph.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
René O. Mirimanoff, M.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
Abderrahim Zouhair, M.D.
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
- Reprint requests to: Abderrahim Zouhair, M.D., Department of Radiation Oncology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Bugnon 46, CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland; Tel: (+41) 21-314-4604; Fax: (+41)21-314-4601;

Received 15 March 2006; received in revised form 28 May 2006; accepted 31 May 2006. published online 31 August 2006.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the outcome in patients with penile cancer.

Methods and Materials: A total of 60 patients with penile carcinoma were included. Of the patients, 45 (n = 27) underwent surgery, and 51 underwent definitive (n = 29) or postoperative (n = 22) radiotherapy (RT). Median follow-up was 62 months.

Results: Median time to locoregional relapse was 14 months. Local failure was observed in 3 of 23 patients (13%) treated with surgery with or without postoperative RT vs. in 19 of 33 patients (56%) given organ-sparing treatment (p = 0.0008). Of 22 local failures, 16 (73%) were salvaged with surgery. Of the 33 patients treated with definitive RT (n = 29) and the 4 patients refusing RT after excisional biopsy, local control was obtained with organ preservation in 13 (39%). In the remaining 20, 4 patients with local failure underwent salvage conservatively, resulting in an ultimate penis preservation rate of 17 of 33 (52%) patients treated with definitive RT. The 5-year and 10-year probability of surviving with an intact penis was 43% and 26%, respectively. There was no survival difference between the patients treated with definitive RT and primary surgery (56% vs. 53%; p = 0.16). In multivariate analysis, independent factors influencing survival were N-classification and pathologic grade. Surgery was the only independent predictor for better local control.

Conclusion: Based on our study findings, in patients with penile cancer, local control is superior with surgery. However, there is no difference in survival between patients treated with surgery and those treated with definitive RT, with 52% organ preservation.

Keywords: Penile cancer , Radiotherapy , Surgery , Organ preservation