[Carcinoma of the penis. Our experience and review of the literature].

Penile carcinoma is a rather infrequent neoplasia with an approximate annual rate of 1 to 2 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In Spain, its presentation is rare, corresponding to 10.42% of all tumors and 0.7% of all malignant tumors of the male. In this report, the casuistic of our Department between the years 1978 and 1987 is presented. Ten patients diagnosed of penile carcinoma were treated, representing 0.1% of all the urological tumors seen during that period. Special emphasis has been placed on the need to perform national multicenter studies, due to the rare finding of such pathology. From an etiopathogenic perspective, chronic inflammation due to smegma accumulation and the presence of a prepuce seem necessary for the development of this pathology. The role of oncogenic viruses still remains to be cleared. After treatment, which was mainly surgical, a global survival rate of 60% was obtained with a follow-up period ranging from 1 month to 7 years. After pointing out several anatomical considerations relating to the lymph drainage of the penis, the different therapeutic alternatives (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) in the treatment of penile carcinoma were discussed.