title: Epidemiology, diagnostic and therapeutic problems for carcinoma of the penis in the regions of Plovdiv, Pazardzhik and Smolyan between 1993 and 2002.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Carcinoma of the penis is a malignant tumour which is uncommon in the male population of the Plovdiv, Pazardzhik and Smolyan regions. Recently however, its occurrence in the clinical practice has been on the increase. In the present study we analyse the incidence of penile carcinoma in these regions and address some problems related to late diagnosing of the condition and its therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study included fifty one patients newly diagnosed with carcinoma of the penis between 1993 and 2002. The patients were registered in the Plovdiv Oncological Centre database. The available data were studied in detail analysing the incidence and mortality rates of the disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The incidence and mortality rates carried by carcinoma of the penis showed a tendency to simultaneous increase with time--by 0.1355 and 0.0392 per 100000 men per annum, respectively. There is a relatively high number of patients diagnosed with carcinoma of the penis in the stage of invasive local tumor (82.35%). The distribution of the cases by stages is highly unfavourable--over 33% of them were diagnosed very late (stage III and IV). The greatest number of cases (70.59%) received only surgical treatment. The 5-year survival rate of the diagnosed patients is only 58.86%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data about the incidence of the disease and the diagnosis and treatment of penile cancer in the studied regions are indicative of highly unfavourable tendencies for this disease which are reflected in the low efficaciousness of cancer control in the studied localisation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Medical University, Plovdiv, 15A Vassil Aprilov St., 4002 Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
authors.forename: Ivan Y
authors.initials: IY
authors.lastname: Dechev
authors.forename: Angel V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Banchev
authors.forename: Nonka G
authors.initials: NG
authors.lastname: Mateva
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002031:Bulgaria / Q000453:epidemiology; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010412:Penile Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate