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Minerva Urologica e Nefrologica 2019 August;71(4):421-5

DOI: 10.23736/S0393-2249.18.03238-1

Copyright © 2018 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Surgical management of a rare case of giant penile cancer

Riccardo CAMPI ¹, Francesco SESSA ¹, Andrea COCCI ¹ ✉, Simone SFORZA ¹, Isabella GRECO ¹, Gianmartin CITO ¹, Davide VANACORE ¹, Maria R. RASPOLLINI ², Sergio SERNI ¹, Alberto LAPINI ¹, Marco CARINI ¹, Andrea MINERVINI ¹

¹ Department of Urology, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy; ² Department of Pathology, Careggi University Hospital, Florence, Italy

Primary penile cancer is a rare malignant disease. In most cases, it presents as a clinically obvious lesion leading to early diagnosis in most patients. However, even in developed Countries, it carries a significant social stigma leading to diagnosis at locally advanced stages in a non-negligible proportion of patients. Yet, bulky penile lesions are becoming extremely rare in current clinical practice. We present a case of a patient with a giant primary penile cancer managed with radical penectomy, bilateral inguinal lymphadenectomy and perineal urethrostomy, who experienced disease recurrence six months after surgery and died with metastatic disease after denial of further treatment. The management of our case was challenging due to the extremely late diagnosis, the huge dimensions and the infiltrative nature of the tumor; however, from a histopathological perspective, the cancer itself did not display any microscopic peculiarity. Our case highlights that such bulky penile tumors can still occur in current urologic practice and require complex salvage surgical interventions in the context of a multidisciplinary setting.

KEY WORDS: Lymph node excision; Penile neoplasms; Surgery