Organ-preserving surgery for penile cancer: description of techniques and surgical outcomes

OBJECTIVE To describe the outcomes of organ-preserving surgery for penile cancer at a UK tertiary referral centre. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients at Sunderland Hospital (UK) between 2001 and 2008 who had squamous cell tumours limited to the glans penis underwent penile-preserving surgery including total glansectomy and glanuloplasty, partial glansectomy, glans relining and distal penectomy with glans reconstruction. Recurrence rates, cosmetic and functional outcomes were recorded. RESULTS In all, 65 patients were identified with a median follow-up of 40 months. Local recurrence was present in four patients (6%) despite 72% having intermediate or poorly differentiated tumours and 30% with T2 disease. Complications included partial graft loss (1.5%), graft contractures (4.5%) and meatal stenosis (7.5%). In all, 5% were deemed to have poor cosmetic outcome and 85% described good erections at 1 year after surgery. CONCLUSION Penile-preserving surgery can achieve good penile cancer control with minimal morbidity and reduced psychosexual side-effects.