Urologic Oncology
Penile Cancer
Penile cancer is a rare form of cancer that should be managed by experts in a major academic medical center. It is important to see physicians who have a lot of experience treating this type of cancer, like the urologic oncologists at Wake Forest Baptist Health. Learn more about penile cancer in our Health Library.
Penile Cancer Treatment in North Carolina
Penile cancer can metastasize (spread) to the lymph nodes, and treatment usually involves complex surgery that requires experience and expertise. Treatment includes:
- Surgery
In the case of penis cancer, surgery usually involves a local excision, which is removal of a portion of the penis in order to examine the cells under a microscope. At Wake Forest Baptist Health, our doctors use microsurgery, so as little amount of tissue is removed as possible.
Your doctor will want to know the grade, depth and stage of the tumor, which is another way of saying how fast the cancer grows, how deep the tumor is, and how far it has spread. Understanding all these things is an important step, because until your doctors known the type of cancer cells, they cannot create the right treatment plan for you.
Depending on the depth of the tumor growth, your doctor will do a local, partial penectomy, preserving as much natural tissue as possible. However, sometimes the tumor is so big that a total penectomy is performed.
- Chemotherapy
This medical treatment involves medications to kill cancer cells. This medication can be given orally or through an IV. Learn more about chemotherapy at the Comprehensive Cancer Center.
- Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy, the process of using high beams of radioactive energy aimed at tumors in order to kill them and halt their growth. Learn more about radiation treatment at Wake Forest Baptist Health.