Relationship between human papillomavirus and penile cancer— implications for prevention and treatment

Penile cancer is a rare disease with significant morbidity and mortality when present in the advanced stages of the disease. Its prevalence is highest in the developing countries of Africa, Asia, and South America, and its most common histology is squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (1,2). The overall incidence in the United States is approximately 0.69 per 100,000 men with incidence associated with increasing age at diagnosis (3). Traditionally, radical penile and inguinal surgery has been considered the mainstay treatment even though it can carry substantial physical and psychosexual morbidity for those treated. Recently, however, organ-sparing has become a widely accepted approach due to established equivalent oncologic control while achieving satisfactory somatic and sexual health outcomes (4,5)