title: Penile cancer: management of regional lymphatic drainage.
abstract: Presence and magnitude of the inguinal nodal metastases are the most important determinants of oncologic outcome in patients with squamous carcinoma of the penis (SCP). Surgical removal of the inguinal lymph nodes provides an important staging and therapeutic benefit to SCP patients, while the methodology of appropriate patient selection for lymph node dissection continues to evolve. Compliant, motivated, and reliable patients with low risk of harboring metastatic inguinal lymph nodes can be managed with careful inguinal surveillance. In SCP patients whose primary tumors demonstrate pathologic features of aggressive disease, modified bilateral inguinal lymph node dissection should be performed and converted to classic ilioinguinal lymph node dissection if metastatic disease is confirmed on frozen sections. Patients with bulky inguinal metastases are unlikely to be cured by surgery alone. Integration of systemic therapy, especially in a presurgical setting, is an attractive strategy for management of patients with advanced SCP, and is currently being studied prospectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9110, USA. vitaly.margulis@utsouthwestern.edu
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Margulis
authors.forename: Arthur I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Sagalowsky
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D006801:Humans; D007264:Inguinal Canal; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods; D008198:Lymph Nodes; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D010412:Penile Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D010413:Penis / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013521:Urologic Surgical Procedures, Male / Q000379:methods