Symptoms of advanced penile cancer

Penile cancer is a malignant tumor that begins in the glans penis, coronal sulcus, inner lining of the foreskin, and the skin of the male genitals. It is the most common malignant tumor of the male genitals, accounting for more than 90% of male genital tumors. The most common pathological type is male genital squamous carcinoma, which accounts for about 95% of penile cancer. Therefore, penile cancer has basically become a synonym for male genital squamous carcinoma, causing everyone to ignore the existence of other types of penile cancer.

According to the 2004 WHO classification of male genital malignant epithelial cell malignant tumors, the pathological types of penile cancer are divided into male genital squamous cell carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, neuroendocrine small cell carcinoma, sebaceous gland carcinoma, clear cell carcinoma and basal cell carcinoma. Male genital Bowen's disease and male genital Paget's disease are classified as precancerous lesions. In fact, these two diseases are also unique types of penile cancer. Before the 1950s, penile cancer was one of the most common malignant tumors of the male urinary system in my country. With the continuous improvement of people's health conditions, the incidence of penile cancer has dropped rapidly, especially after China's reform and opening up. Penile cancer has long become a rare tumor.

Causes of Penile Cancer

The exact cause of penile cancer is still unclear. What is generally recognized is that it is closely related to prepuce and foreskin length. Urine scale and inflammatory irritation are the key causes of penile cancer. Many scientific research data show that circumcision in infancy can prevent the occurrence of penile cancer, while repeated circumcision in childhood or adulthood does not reduce the incidence of penile cancer. Therefore, patients with prepuce length should undergo surgery as soon as possible. For people with long foreskin, it is more important to keep the long foreskin clean, which can also reduce the incidence of penile cancer. The vast majority of penile cancer patients heard in clinical medicine today have prepuce length. In addition, the causes of penile cancer include genital lichen sclerosus, warts, eczema, human papillomavirus infection and incomplete circumcision. Therefore, patients with the above diseases should also seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

Clinical symptoms of penile cancer

Penile cancer often originates from the mucous membrane of the glans penis, coronal sulcus and inner plate of the foreskin. For patients with prepuce, the early stage of the disease is not easy to be detected. The prepuce may be touched to have a mass or lump, which gradually expands and can break the prepuce to expose the tumor. The prepuce is often purulent or pink discharge. For patients with prepuce that can be extended outward to show the glans penis, the main symptoms are papules, papillary or flat protrusions, warts or cauliflower-like growths, soft spots and ulcers at the lesions. The lesions gradually expand and are often accompanied by foul-smelling secretions on the surface. Penile cancer rarely occurs in the male genital body. Because of the associated infection, penile cancer patients often have unilateral or one-sided inguinal lymph node enlargement. About 50% of patients with lymph node enlargement are confirmed to have cancer metastasis by pathology.

Penile Cancer Diagnosis

For typical penile cancer patients, it is not difficult to diagnose based on clinical medical examination. Diagnosis of this disease requires taking the lesion tissue for pathophysiological examination. The most common types under the microscope are keratinized and mitotic squamous carcinomas. There are also 7 subtypes of male genital squamous carcinomas, including basal carcinoma, hygroma carcinoma, papillary carcinoma, sarcomatoid carcinoma, mixed carcinoma and adenosquamous carcinoma. Other types of penile cancer are less common.