- Basic
- Symptoms
- Diagnosis
- Treatments
What is Penile Cancer?
Penile cancer as one of the most common malignant tumor in male reproductive system, it mainly presents as squamous cancer, basal cell cancer and adenocarcinoma are rare, and the main symptoms include redundant prepuce, phimosis, prepuce balanitis and ulcer of penis.
Incidence of Penile Cancer
Penile cancer mainly develops in old males with the average age around 60 years old. As age increases, the incidence is higher and would reach the highest point at 70 years old. Occasionally, it develops in young men too.
Causes of Penile Cancer
Although the causes of penile cancer are unclear, according to clinic observation and statistics, the onset is related to phimosis and redundant prepuce.
Meaning of Penile Cancer Biopsy
Biopsy is a standard diagnostic method of squamous cell carcinoma of penis. Biopsy offers useful information to cancer grades and histological classification. It can confirm the small lesions and encroaching depth. The bigger tumors are easier to judge infiltration degree through check-up and imaging examinations. These scattered information combine together would help to stage cancer correctly, and to judge the possibility of microcosmic metastases without obvious clinical cancer metastatic symptoms (it namely is to touch metastatic lymph nodes).
How Does Penile Cancer Spread?
Penile cancer is a malignant cancer threatening male health. Early detection and treatments are the key to prevent it from spreading. There are three ways for penile cancer to spread.
1. Local spread, the cancer spreads in circumcrescent way from glans to the root of penis, which can further encroach to fascia penis, corpus cavernosum, even to scrotum, lower abdominal wall and urethra.
2. Lymph spread. The most common position to develop penile cancer metastases is inguinal lymph nodes.
3. Blood spread, it often spreads to lungs, liver, and after that are bones and brain.
What are the treatments for penile cancer?
Surgery. Because the penile tumor in early stage is small and does not spread, surgery would clinically perform to remove the tumor.
2. Chemotherapy gets good cure effect on penile cancer, which cooperates with surgery can improve cure effect.
3. Radiotherapy for penile cancer can take as assistant treatment after surgery to improve cure effect.
4. Minimally invasive therapy can effectively kill cancer cells and prevent the spread and recurrence of cancer. It gets the advantages of non surgery and small bleeding.
Postoperative Care of Penile Cancer
One week after operation
One week after operation is a time most easily for patient to develop the symptoms like wound bleeding and infection and so on, so the patient should avoid filling blood in penis, erection, straining at stool or getting off bed early and so on.
Diet care
The patient can choose the food that are easy for digestion and keeps away from the food would lead to increase of androgen, such as animal organs, the foods are rich in zinc(poyster, beef), arginine(eel, cat fish, mudfish or holothuroids), or calcium(dried small shrimps, beans), etc.
Prevention of wound infection
Except antibiotics to prevent wound infection, clean of perineum should be performed each day too. Family should avoid dressing pollution when the patient urinates or defecates, and once dressing is soaking with urine should change in time.
Care after care
The greatest effect of operation on life quality of penile cancer patient is mind after discharge. Because operation changes the appearance and shortens the length of penis, which would easily cause mental unbalance and make the patient lose confidence in sexual life. For the patients who have removed penis completely, their mates can help them to get mental satisfaction through touch, hug, kiss or other skin touch.
What kinds of supports can be obtained?
Practice proves that the clinic team services composed by multiple disciplines like oncosurgery, oncology, pathology, imageology and anesthesia doctors as well as professional nurses, can provide patients with most effective, most suitable and most economic treatment plan, and also can greatly improve the therapeutic effect of treating cancer patients.
“One station” medical system constructed by Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou combining multiple disciplines, can perform comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for patients under the condition of without adding patients’ burden. Therefore, on one hand, it can provide all-round and heartfelt medical services, and on the other hand, it improves medical efficiency and level. There are many channels can be applied to conduct the communication between patients and doctors, like online consultation, email, telephone conversation, and face-to-face consultation. All these consultation services can effectively help patients to fight the cancer. While the medical team faced by the patients includes doctors, nurses, dietitians, interpreters and so on to meet various demands in different level of different countries. Patients would be more confident under the unobstructed communication environment to cooperate the hospital to diagnose and treat the diseases.
Penile cancer is a malignancy uncommon in generative organs.But the incident rate of which is increasing year by year. Knowing the symptoms of penile cancer is very helpful to detect the cancer earlier and prevent it from developing into the late stage or threatening patient's life. Then what are the symptoms of penile cancer?
Penile cancer symptoms
1. The early cancerous symptoms of penile cancer would present as thickening in balanus or epithelium of prepuce. Most penile cancer patients have the symptoms like papula, ulcer, verrucae or cauliflowerlike plaque, which can further develop to erosion, hard and irregular edge. Accompanied that are tingle or burning pain and smelly purulent secretion. A patient can touch the lump or nodules and feel the tenderness locally through prepuce when capistration or prepuce can not upturn. Early penile canceration can be seen after taking circumcision.
2. Without proper treatments, as the condition develops, the symptoms of early penile cancerization like warty nodules increase or ulcer extension are thinning and brightening of prepuce may occur. Late-stage cancer would encroach on the whole penis and spongy body of penis. The distal segment of penis can present necrosis and abscission with local unbearable pain because of poor blood circulation. After cancer infiltration develops in spongy body of penis, a patient would have symptoms like pain and difficulty in urination, or even urine retention or urinary fistula.
3. Swelling inguinal lymph nodes are possibly from encroachment of cancer cells or inflammation. Penile cancer patients are normally found of swelling inguinal lymph nodes, but most cases are owing to penile cancer combining with local infection, only little cases are causing from cancer metastases.
4. When distant metastases happen, correspondent symptoms may develop in the organs or tissues being affected. Besides, other symptoms like anemia and loss of appetite may present, too.
Above is the introduction to penile cancer symptoms. Specialist from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou reminded that once any signs mentioned above present, the patient should be alert to penile cancer so as not to delay treatments. Through effective treatments, the therapeutic effect can be improved on penile cancer patients in early stage.
Penile cancer is a common malignant cancer among males, which is seriously affecting male’s health. Like most of cancers, early detection is very important for penile cancer patients. Here, experts from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou will give you an introduction of penile cancer diagnosis.
Diagnostic Methods of Penile Cancer
1. Imaging examination
(1) Lymphography: lymphography is helpful in diagnosing penile cancer with metastasis, but cannot be used as routine examination. Contrast solution can be infused in the dorsum of the foot, penis and lymphatic vessel of the spermatic cord to enhance the imaging effect. If metastasis has happened, lymphography will reveal irregularity and filling detect of lymph nodes as well as deformation and compressive obstruction of the lymph vessels.
(2) B-ultrasound: it can help determine whether there is metastasis in the liver and abdomen.
(3) CT/MRI: they can reveal whether there is metastasis in the organs and posterior part of peritoneum.
2. Biopsy
Biopsy is the most important histological diagnosis basis. Biopsy of primary cancer can determine the histological type and pathological stage of the cancer. Biopsy of inguinal lymph nodes can determine whether metastasis has happened. It is helpful in clinical cancer staging and treatment planning.
Self-examination of Penile Cancer
Experts from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou suggest males might self-exam their penises when bathing to help detect the disease timely. For example, lightly turn over the penis to see whether there is swelling, enlargement and mild pain of the penis or heaviness feeling in the abdomen and thighs, if any, go to see the doctor for further examination.
Penile caner is a kind of malignant tumor and has great threaten to males’ health. Therefore, early discovery and timely treatment must be adhered. Here, tumor experts of Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou would like to introduce the following treatment methods for penile cancer:
Traditional Treatment Methods for Penile Cancer
1. Surgery: surgery includes: circumcision, partial excision of penis, total resection of penis, bilateral inguinal lymph node dissection and iliac lymph node dissection. In which, if tumor is small and limited to foreskin, then circumcision can be performed; if partial excision of penis is required, then at least 2 cm above the position of tumor shall be cut; if the residual penis is too short, then total resection of penis can be carried out; if there is lymph node metastasis, bilateral inguinal lymph node dissection shall be performed; if there is Cloquet's node metastasis, iliac lymph node dissection is required.
2. Radiotherapy: in early stage, penile cancer patients can receive radiotherapy, however, radiotherapy alone won’t exert ideal therapeutic effect, but it can be taken as auxiliary measures after surgery to improve therapeutic effect of surgery.
3. Chemotherapy: chemotherapy combing with surgery can improve therapeutic effect definitely.
4. TCM: TCM has the function of regulating imbalance, strengthening body resistance and anticancer. If combine both advantages of TCM and western medicines, the therapeutic effects shall be greater than that of any single one.
Interventional Therapy of Penile Cancer
Interventional therapy of penile cancer includes endovascular interventional treatment and non-vascular interventional treatment. Interventional treatment is performed under the circumstance of not exposing foci: it is to cut an incision that may be a few millimeters in diameter, or through the original pipelines that the body itself owns to carry out treatment on local foci under the guidance of imaging facilities and instruments.
Advantages of Interventional Therapy for Penile Cancer:
1. Well-directed: interventional therapy can accurately localize and sophisticatedly treat penile cancer, and cut off blood supply of tumor;
2. Strong repeatability: interventional therapy won’t be limited by tumor cell metabolism period. According to patient’s condition and treatment demands, interventional therapy can be performed to tumor nodus that in different stages, or repeatedly occur or multi-occur for many times;
3. Real time therapeutic effect evaluation: under the monitor of DSA (imaging facilities), interventional therapy can accurately be performed with real time therapeutic effect evaluation;
4. Fewer side effects: interventional treatment can impose high drug concentration on local foci with less dosage and fewer side effects;
5. Little trauma: during the process of interventional treatment, the incision on skin is just about 2mm so that penile cancer patient would suffer little pain;
6. Quick recovery: penile cancer patients can get out of bed for walking, and after about 3-7days, they can be discharged from hospital;
7. Significant clinical therapeutic effects: after interventional treatment, penile cancer patient can own a prolonged survival period and also save the cost of hospitalization.
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