Characteristics of Penile Cancer at Tertiary Centre Hospital: A Nine Years Study from 2010-2019

Abstract

Background: Penile cancer is a rare and aggressive disease. The incidence in India, Africa, and South America ranges from 2.3 to 8.3 per 100,000. No data regarding incidence rates in Indonesia. The etiological factors include poor genital hygiene, phimosis, tobacco use, multiple sex partners, human papillomavirus (HPV) infection, and chronic inflammatory states. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) represents 95% of penile cancers. Progression and treatment of the disease cause devastating consequences and morbidity such as disfiguring penile amputation. This study aimed to assess the epidemiological characteristics of penile cancer in the city of Bandung, its associated risk factors, clinical manifestations, and compare the results with previous studies. Methods: This was a descriptive study conducted at Hasan Sadikin Hospital Bandung from January 2010 to 2019. The study included all penile cancer patients that came to Urology Department. Variables such as age, history of circumcision, phimosis, HPV infection, marital status, smoking habit, educational level, age of onset, operation, histopathological results, history of multiple sex partners, location of the tumor, comorbidities, and staging are collected from the medical record and analyzed. Results: A total of 13 penile cancer patients were involved with the age range from 28 to 67 years and 50.69 years on average. Most of them were smokers (69.2%) and uncircumcised (53.8%). All of the patients came at an advanced stage, and penectomy was done. Histopathologically, 84.6% were SCC. One of our patients was consulted by a haemato-oncologist for adjuvant chemotherapy (6 cycles of cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil). Conclusions: Penile cancer is a rare neoplasm in Bandung, West Java. The characteristics of penile cancer patients found in our hospitals were on average 50.7 years old, and the most risk factors found were smoking and uncircumcised. Histopathologically, most of them were SCC. All patients came to seek medical treatment at an advanced stage and had undergone surgical penectomy.