Carcinoma of the penis staging

Editor(s)-in-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [mailto:mgibson@perfuse.org] Phone:617-632-7753; Joel Gelman, M.D. [mailto:jgelman@uci.edu], Director of the Center for Reconstructive Urology and Associate Clinical Professor in the Department of Urology at the University of   California,Irvine

Staging
Like many malignancies, penile cancer can spread to other parts of the body. It is usually a primary malignancy, the initial place from which a cancer spreads in the body. Much less often it is a secondary malignancy, one in which the cancer has spread to the penis from elsewhere. Doctors use the extent of metastasis to estimate what stage the disease is in, to aid in treatment decisions and prognosis. The stages are assessed as follows:


 * Stage I - Cancer has only affected the glans and/or foreskin.
 * Stage II - Cancer has spread to the shaft of the penis.
 * Stage III - Cancer has affected the penis and surrounding lymph nodes.
 * Stage IV - Cancer has moved beyond the groin area to other parts of the body.
 * Recurrent - Cancer that has returned after treatment.