Penile Cancer

　　What is penile cancer?

　　Penile cancer as one of the most common malignant tumor in male reproductive system, it mainly presents as squamous cancer, basal cell cancer and adenocarcinoma are rare, and the main symptoms include redundant prepuce, phimosis, prepuce balanitis and ulcer of penis.

　　What is the incidence of penile cancer?

　　Penile cancer mainly develops in old males with the average age around 60 years old. As age increases, the incidence is higher and would reach the highest point at 70 years old. Occasionally, it develops in young men too.

　　What causes penile cancer?

　　Although the causes of penile cancer are unclear, according to clinic observation and statistics, the onset is related to phimosis and redundant prepuce.

　　What are the clinical symptoms of penile cancer?

　　Tumor occurs in balanus or the ulcer is hard to recover for long, which in early stage can be hard mass or erythema. Other typical cases may present cauliflower-like tumor with necrotic appearance and smelly exudates. When it develops to late stage, penile cancer can encroach to the whole penis and corpus cavernosum urethrae, accompanied other symptom is swelling lymph nodes in inguinal groove and femur.

　　Self examination for penile cancer

　　The specialist from Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou advised that, male can have a check on penis when taking a shower so as to find the lesions early. The exact procedures are: take a rotation on both sides of penis with forefinger and thumb, if enlargement, swelling, mild pain or a heavy feeling in inguinal grooves occur, rapid and further examination should be performed by specialist in hospital.

　　How to detect penile cancer?

　　1. Imaging examination

　　1) lymphography can help to diagnose metastases certainly, but normally it won’t be taken as routine examination. Perform the contrast radiography of intralymphatic injection through insteps of feet, penis and spermatic cord, signs like irregular lymph nodes, filling defect of lymph nodes, deformation, depression or blockage of lymphatic vessels would present if metastases are found.

　　2) Ultrasound B can find out any metastases in liver and abdominal cavity.

　　3) CT, MRI can detect if penile cancer spreads to retroperitoneum, other organs and other parts of body.

　　2.Other examinations

　　When the tumor only has hard sclerosis and is without ulceration, and if is being covered by prepuce, circumcision can be given to expose the tumor. Then through local tissue biopsy can diagnose the cancer. Biopsy is the most important proof in histodiagnosis. Take the biopsy of primary cancer can firmly diagnose the histological type and stage of cancer. The biopsy of inguinal lymph nodes can exactly detect the spread of cancer, which helps doctor to plan out treatment clinically.

　　What is the meaning of penile cancer biopsy?

　　Biopsy is a standard diagnostic method of squamous cell carcinoma of penis. Biopsy offers useful information to cancer grades and histological classification. It can confirm the small lesions and encroaching depth. The bigger tumors are easier to judge infiltration degree through check-up and imaging examinations. These scattered information combine together would help to stage cancer correctly, and to judge the possibility of microcosmic metastases without obvious clinical cancer metastatic symptoms (it namely is to touch metastatic lymph nodes).

　　How does penile cancer spread?

　　Penile cancer is a malignant cancer threatening male health. Early detection and treatments are the key to prevent it from spreading. There are three ways for penile cancer to spread.

　　1. Local spread, the cancer spreads in circumcrescent way from glans to the root of penis, which can further encroach to fascia penis, corpus cavernosum, even to scrotum, lower abdominal wall and urethra.

　　2. Lymph spread. The most common position to develop penile cancer metastases is inguinal lymph nodes.

　　3. Blood spread, it often spreads to lungs, liver, and after that are bones and brain.

　　What are the treatments for penile cancer?

　　Surgery. Because the penile tumor in early stage is small and does not spread, surgery would clinically perform to remove the tumor.

　　2. Chemotherapy gets good cure effect on penile cancer, which cooperates with surgery can improve cure effect.

　　3. Radiotherapy for penile cancer can take as assistant treatment after surgery to improve cure effect.

　　4. Minimally invasive therapy can effectively kill cancer cells and prevent the spread and recurrence of cancer. It gets the advantages of non surgery and small bleeding.

　　Characterized therapy of Chinese medicine

　　Through years of researches and studies, traditional Chinese medicine can regulate the balance of body and strengthen the resistance to fight against tumor. Combine the advantages of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine, the cure effect then is larger than any one of them. Besides, Chinese medicine doesn’t have toxic side effects and traumas in treating penile cancer.

　　Post operative care of penile cancer

　　One week after operation

　　One week after operation is a time most easily for patient to develop the symptoms like wound bleeding and infection and so on, so the patient should avoid filling blood in penis, erection, straining at stool or getting off bed early and so on.

　　Diet care

　　The patient can choose the food that are easy for digestion and keeps away from the food would lead to increase of androgen, such as animal organs, the foods are rich in zinc(poyster, beef), arginine(eel, cat fish, mudfish or holothuroids), or calcium(dried small shrimps, beans), etc.

　　Prevention of wound infection

　　Except antibiotics to prevent wound infection, clean of perineum should be performed each day too. Family should avoid dressing pollution when the patient urinates or defecates, and once dressing is soaking with urine should change in time.

　　Care after care

　　The greatest effect of operation on life quality of penile cancer patient is mind after discharge. Because operation changes the appearance and shortens the length of penis, which would easily cause mental unbalance and make the patient lose confidence in sexual life. For the patients who have removed penis completely, their mates can help them to get mental satisfaction through touch, hug, kiss or other skin touch.

　　What kinds of supports can be obtained?

　　Practice proves that the clinic team services composed by multiple disciplines like oncosurgery, oncology, pathology, imageology and anesthesia doctors as well as professional nurses, can provide patients with most effective, most suitable and most economic treatment plan, and also can greatly improve the therapeutic effect of treating cancer patients.

　　“One station” medical system constructed by Modern Cancer Hospital Guangzhou combining multiple disciplines, can perform comprehensive diagnosis and treatment for patients under the condition of without adding patients’ burden. Therefore, on one hand, it can provide all-round and heartfelt medical services, and on the other hand, it improves medical efficiency and level. There are many channels can be applied to conduct the communication between patients and doctors, like online consultation, email, telephone conversation, and face-to-face consultation. All these consultation services can effectively help patients to fight the cancer. While the medical team faced by the patients includes doctors, nurses, dietitians, interpreters and so on to meet various demands in different level of different countries. Patients would be more confident under the unobstructed communication environment to cooperate the hospital to diagnose and treat the diseases.