Comment on article on complications of total vs partial penectomy

Penile cancer is a rare malignancy in the western world, and is increasing in incidence [1,2,3]. Most primary and secondary care clinicians rarely manage this condition except in countries where such conditions and their management are centralised to subspecialist centres e.g. in the UK. The article by Vasqualez et al. [4] outlining the 30 day complications of Total Penectomy (TP) and Partial Penectomy (PP) is welcome. The authors utilise retrospective and historic data over a 10 year period from the NSQIP (National Surgical Quality Improvement Programme) database with data from various centres and surgeons’ outcomes. To-date there hasn’t been any data on direct comparison of these two surgeries and expected postoperative outcomes. Vasqualez et al. showed that TP is a more invasive procedure and has a greater risk of complications within 30 days of surgery as compared to PP [4].

Like most surgery involving malignancies, goals of oncological outcomes usually are paramount to those of functional outcomes. Survival is dictated largely by stage, with early detection and management, especially of recurrent disease or metastatic groyne disease being key to better survival.