Surgical treatment of invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the penis: retrospective analysis of 350 cases

Abstract

Between 1960 and 1987, 414 patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the penis were referred to the Brazilian National Cancer Institute. Inguinal metastases were demonstrated by lymphadenectomy in 39% of the 23 patients with stage N0, 49% of 92 with stages N1 and N2, and 100% of 18 with stage N3 disease. We analyzed the followup of 350 patients who underwent surgical treatment. In 224 patients (64%) amputation or some form of penile surgery was done initially, while 102 (29%) underwent amputation and lymphadenectomy, and 24 (7%) underwent palliative surgery for advanced squamous cell carcinoma. The statistics revealed a better 5-year survival rate for the patients who underwent lymphadenectomy concomitantly with penile surgery compared to those who underwent delayed lymphadenectomy (p < 0.001). Patients in whom systematic lymphadenectomy was negative had a better prognosis than those with positive systematic lymphadenectomy results (p < 0.001). The latter patients had a better prognosis compared with those in whom delayed lymphadenectomy was positive (p = 0.0103). Patients with well and moderately differentiated carcinoma had a higher survival rate at 5 years than did those with poorly differentiated carcinoma (p < 0.001 and p = 0.003, respectively). All deaths from metastatic disease occurred within 24 months among the patients who underwent systematic lymphadenectomy and within 5 years after simple penile surgery. In the short term, surgical debulking combined with reconstruction techniques allowed for improved quality of life in patients with advanced local-regional disease.