Organ Sparing Surgery for Penile Cancer: A Systematic Review

Purpose: Although penile cancer represents only 1% of all male cancers, the traditional treatment, total or subtotal penectomy, carries devastating psychological and functional outcomes. Organ sparing surgery is an attractive option if it can provide satisfactory cancer control equivalent to or nearly equivalent to standard techniques. This approach is meeting increasing acceptance. We offer a timely comprehensive review to increase awareness of these procedures and their applicability, to evaluate the techniques objectively and to provide guidance to the practicing urologist.Materials and Methods: A PubMed® search was conducted using the key words “organ sparing/conserving” in “penile cancer” alone or in combination with “partial penectomy,” “glansectomy,” “glans resurfacing,” “penile reconstruction,” “laser,” “Mohs,” “outcomes” and “quality of life.”Results: Many techniques of organ sparing surgery in patients with penile cancer have been described through the years. To be practical and useful, a requir...