Carcinoma penis

Abstract

Between 1954 and 1984, 102 cases of carcinoma of the penis were seen at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. Their mean age was 62.5 years. Nearly twice as many patients were referred in the last decade as in the first, and this observation may be linked to the reduction in numbers of neonatal circumcisions in the last forty years. The material reported is selected by referral patterns of recurrence following surgery elsewhere or the patient's preference for conservative management. As a result the overall survival figures have little meaning. However it is apparent that where possible and where acceptable, partial surgical amputation is more likely to achieve local cure and to be less disturbing for patients with invasive disease. Radiotherapy can be effective in controlling superficial primaries and may be curative in early, or rarely in late, stage nodal disease. Prevention by circumcision in infancy is still the best policy.