Advances in penile cancer management.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Penile cancer is a rare disease that may cause devastating physical and psychological effects on patients due to the disease itself and/or the associated treatments. As with many other cancer types, significant efforts have been made in penile cancer to minimize invasiveness and morbidity of therapeutic approaches, while aiming to conserve organ function and optimize disease control. This updated review focuses on penile cancer management data published in the last few years.

RECENT FINDINGS: Several aspects of penile cancer management are discussed in this review. Wider knowledge about the disease's natural history has provided the basis for new TNM staging and follow-up schedule proposals. Modern imaging techniques and gene profiling assays have been applied. A new guideline addressing various aspects of penile cancer was recently published, and more extensive experience has been gained with sentinel lymph node biopsy and radiotherapy. Quality of life and psychosexual impact of the disease are also being addressed.

SUMMARY: New diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, as well as attempts to better identify patients who may benefit from less invasive treatments have been studied, but more experience in the field is clearly needed. For this purpose, collaborative multicenter studies are strongly encouraged.