Verrucous Carcinoma of the Penis

Abstract

We reviewed 13 cases of verrucous carcinoma, accounting for 5 per cent of the penile cancers seen during a 25-year interval. Although the typical verrucous pattern predominated minute foci of invasive squamous carcinoma were identified in 3 patients. All patients were followed for at least 6 years and none has died of the malignancy. Wide surgical excision, usually requiring partial or total penectomy, is the treatment of choice.

Advances in the pathology of penile carcinomas

“…Focal invasion in lamina propria (microinvasive verrucous carcinomas) does not affect prognosis. However, if significant areas undergo dedifferentiation, the tumor is no longer classified as verrucous but as mixed verrucous carcinoma (hybrid) [18]. In such cases, metastasis may be present in up to 25% of the cases.…”

HPV infection and immunochemical detection of cell-cycle markers in verrucous carcinoma of the penis

“…5,6,[11][12][13] However, identification of cases from the literature is sometimes difficult because of the varied nomenclature used in the past, often regarding them as the same lesion as BLT. 14,15 Risk factors for penile verrucous carcinoma seem to be similar as for penile cancer in general, which are poor hygiene, phimosis and chronic inflammation 16 but no systematic case series has been studied. The human papillomavirus (HPV) role in pathogenesis of these tumours is not certain because of small number of cases available for studies.…”

Verrucous Carcinoma of the Penis: Importance of Human Papillomavirus Typing for Diagnosis and Therapeutic Decision

“…This carcinoma is extremely well differentiated and characterized by a local aggressivity with little metastatic potential [8,10,14]. This tumor has been described in nearly all parts of the body, but particu larly on the penis, where it has received many synonymous designa tions, such as 'giant condyloma' or 'Buschke-Löwenstein tumor' [15,16],Itaccounts for only 5-15%ofall penile cancers [8,10,17]. Clas-…”

“…At this stage in progression, the tumor invades, displaces and compresses subepithelial connective tissue. The tumor is now mostly well differentiated, however, focal areas of invasive less differen tiated squamous carcinoma with cellular anaplasia, higher mitotic activity and ruptures of the basal membrane are not rare and found in 25 % of cases [8], On a histological basis alone, a differential diag nosis with the classical squamous carcinoma remains very difficult. The differential diagnosis is capital since the prognoses of these two tumors are totally different [3,7,13], We point out, in particular, that the verrucous carcinoma, contrary to the classical epidermoid carci noma, only rarely produces métastasés.…”