CARCINOMA OF THE PENIS - IMPROVED SURVIVAL BY EARLY REGIONAL LYMPHADENECTOMY BASED ON THE HISTOLOGICAL GRADE AND DEPTH OF INVASION OF THE PRIMARY LESION

Purpose: This study was performed to validate a new staging system and support the concept of early regional lymphadenectomy based on this s ystem. Materials and Methods: A total of 76 cases from 4 teaching hosp itals was reviewed. Results: Of 24 patients with well or moderately di fferentiated noninvasive primary tumors 1 had regional metastases comp ared to 43 of 52 patients with poorly differentiated or invasive tumor s. Conclusions: By classifying disease according to the depth of invas ion and degree of differentiation of the primary lesions a high degree of accuracy could be obtained in predicting the likelihood of positiv e groin nodes. Removing groin nodes that are microscopically positive improves the survival rate over that of delayed lymphadenectomy.