Cancer of the penis and its treatment

Abstract

It had been believed that carcinoma of the penis was rather rare in the developed countries comparing with that in the under-developing countries, however, the recent epidemiological studies failed to reveal any clear difference of the incidence of carcinoma of the penis all over the world. In these days so called successful treatment is coming to be evaluated by the quality of life (QOL) after surgical or nonsurgical treatment (especially sexual function tended to be considered very important factors altering QOL). I want to emphasize the following issues in this report. 1. Erythroplasia of Queyrat and Bowen's disease are carcinoma in situ and should be dealt as carcinoma of the penis. 2. relation of human papilloma virus and carcinoma of penis. 3. usefulness of TNM classification over Jackson's classification. 4. SCC antigen is a reliable tumor marker of carcinoma of the penis? 5. effectiveness of chemotherapy based on BLM combined with radiation therapy for carcinoma of the penis. 6. usefulness of Mohs microscopically controlled surgery and modified groin dissection. It is generally accepted that since carcinoma of the penis is a rare disease and for one institution up to 50 cases can be experienced during 20 years in Japan, there exist no integrated study involving a large number of institutions. I really wish a certain form of group study to be completed and the results from this study utilized to overcome the present problems for the treatment of carcinoma of the penis.