Types of Treatment for Penile Cancer

Treatment for penile cancer is either local or systemic. Local treatments remove, destroy, or control the cancer cells in one area. Surgery, radiation therapy, topical chemotherapy, and biological therapy are local treatments. Systemic treatments are used to destroy or control cancer cells throughout the entire body. Chemotherapy is a systemic treatment.

You may have just one of these treatments, or you may have a combination.

Surgery. The goal of this treatment is to remove the tumor and leave as much of the penis as possible. New advances in treatment have increased the kinds of surgery used to treat penile cancer and have made the removal of the penis less common. Doctors may also use surgery to remove regional lymph nodes.

Radiation therapy. The goal of this treatment is to kill cancer cells by using X-rays. Your doctor may use it as the main treatment for penile cancer instead of surgery. However, radiation is only effective in men with small tumors, which are known as low-stage tumors. You may receive radiation externally, called external beam radiation therapy, or internally, called brachytherapy.

Chemotherapy. Depending on the type of tumor, doctors will use different chemotherapy drugs to treat penile cancer. Chemotherapy is not very effective for this type of cancer, and most men have only partial shrinkage of the tumor.

Biological therapy. The goal of this treatment is to use the body to fight cancer. Biological therapy uses substances made by your body or made in a lab to boost or restore your body’s natural defenses against disease. This treatment is also called a biological response modifier (BRM) therapy.

Doctors are always finding new ways to treat penile cancer. These new methods are tested in clinical trials. Before beginning treatment, ask your doctor if there are any clinical trials you should consider.