What is Penile Cancer

  Penile cancer is one of the common malignant tumors in male genital system.  [Etiology] If there is circumcision or long foreskin, the dirt and filth will accumulate in the penis and become poisonous for a long time, which can also become cancerous. This disease is mostly caused by the long-term accumulation of prepuce, stones and dirt in the foreskin, or chronic inflammation or STD infection, which leads to the overproliferation of penile tissue cells – cancer.  [Diagnostic points] 1. This disease is mostly found in middle-aged and elderly people with a history of prepuce or circumcision. It may be transformed from penile condyloma acuminata.  2. It is usually found in the head of the penis, the inner plate of the foreskin, the penile tether and the coronal groove.   Or cauliflower-like changes. Papillary carcinoma starts as papules or warts, and then becomes cauliflower-like hyperplasia in late stage. Infiltrative carcinoma starts with smooth surface, red color, hard, mildly elevated, growing inward and curled up at the edge.  4.There may be enlarged inguinal lymph nodes, which are even or painful to pressure.  5, the initial systemic symptoms are not obvious, and later can be seen in the diet tasteless, thin shape and fatigue and other symptoms.  6.The diagnosis can be made clearly by biopsy.  7.According to the growth of tumor and the presence or absence of metastasis, there are four clinical stages.  Stage I: tumor is limited to penile head or foreskin.  Stage II: tumor infiltrates the penile shaft or cavernous body without lymph node or distant metastasis.  Stage III: tumor is limited to the penile shaft with inguinal lymph node metastasis.  Stage IV: tumor infiltrated from penile body to surrounding area, with inguinal lymph node and iliac fossa lymph node metastasis or more distant lymph node metastasis.  [Differential diagnosis] 1. Penile tuberculosis: Most of them have a history of genitourinary tuberculosis, or a history of contact with tuberculosis. Pathological biopsy with Mycobacterium tuberculosis can be detected.   The clinical resemblance is very similar to cancer, and tissue biopsy is required to distinguish it.  3.Papillary tumor of the penis: This is a common benign tumor of the penis. It starts as a small local elevation, gradually increases in size and becomes papillary, with or without a tip, red or light red, soft in quality, slow in growth, and can have malodorous discharge if secondary infection occurs, which can be easily mistaken for penile cancer. It can be differentiated by biopsy.  4.Penile angle: It is a chronic proliferative disease. Local protrusions are striped or columnar in growth, grayish brown or yellow, with clear edges, or dry and hard like ram’s horn, or head shrunken and sharp. Although the proliferative tissue changes, but no cancerous cell growth, rely on pathological examination can be distinguished.  5.Penile sclerosis: This disease mostly occurs in the penile corpus cavernosum and is mainly localized by fibrous nodules. Although the mass is tough and the boundary is not clear, it is less hard than the cancerous mass and grows slowly, with smooth surface and certain mobility, and rarely forms ulcers and enlarged inguinal lymph nodes. It is not difficult to distinguish it from penile cancer.  (1) Surgical treatment: (1) For precancerous lesions of penis, such as penile leukoplakia, penile horn, penile papilloma, penile proliferative erythema, penile fibrous sclerosis, etc., they should be treated or operated in time. (2) For stage I or II penile cancer, partial penile excision should be performed according to the situation, and for suspected inguinal lymph node metastasis and positive biopsy, lymph node removal should be performed 3 weeks after the primary cancer wound heals; (3) For cancer that is too large or the tumor is limited to the penile shaft, total penile excision should be performed in a timely manner. (2) External drug treatment: (1) For those with initial cancer and no lymph node metastasis, external conservative treatment with traditional Chinese medicine can be performed.  Chemotherapy: (1) For the treatment of precancerous lesions and early superficial cancer, 5% fluorouracil ointment can be used externally or 5% fluorouracil aqueous solution can be applied wet.  (2) For limited cancer tumor, 3~5mg of fluorouracil should be injected at the base of cancer tumor every time, once every other day for 1 month.  (3) If the cancer is deep or metastatic, after penile cancer resection, use 15~30mg of contouromycin, injected intramuscularly once a day or every other day, total 300~600mg. 500mg of hydrogen bomburacil is added into 500ml of 5% glucose solution and injected intravenously.  Other therapies: (1) radiotherapy; (2) cryotherapy; (3) laser therapy; (4) diet therapy. In addition, it can also be combined with qigong therapy to enhance physical fitness to facilitate recovery.