Genital verrucous carcinoma is associated with lichen sclerosus: a retrospective study and review of the literature

Abstract

The association of lichen sclerosus (LS) with genital squamous cell carcinoma is well recognized. However, the relationship between LS and verrucous carcinoma remains unclear. To evaluate the associations of genital and perianal verrucous carcinomas with LS. We conducted a retrospective study on patients with a genital or perianal verrucous carcinoma and reviewed their histopathology specimens and clinical notes. We also conducted a literature review. We identified a total of 13 patients (including 6 women and 7 men) with a genital or perianal verrucous carcinoma. All 5 women with vulval verrucous carcinoma had coexisting LS (5/5), and 1 man with penile verrucous carcinoma had coexisting LS (1/3). In contrast, no coexisting LS was found in all 5 cases of perianal verrucous carcinoma (0/5). Half of the cases of verrucous carcinoma with coexisting LS had recurrences (3/6), while no recurrences were found in those without coexisting LS (0/7). Our study and review of the literature demonstrate that vulval verrucous carcinoma is strongly associated with LS. In contrast, perianal verrucous carcinoma is not associated with LS. When genital verrucous carcinoma is diagnosed, it is important to consider LS as a potential concomitant diagnosis and offer appropriate treatments and close follow-up to detect recurrence of verrucous carcinoma.