Determining the sentinel lymph node of patients with penile cancer using radioactive nuclides  

Severija Pažemeckaitė,2 Albertas Ulys,1 Žygimantas Kardelis1, Lukas Pajėda2

1 National Cancer Institute, Vilnius, Lithuania
2 Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania

Summary

Penile cancer is an extremely rare disease among men’s oncological diseases.  This is most commonly a squamous cell carcinoma, usually developed from the inner part of the foreskin epithelium or penis glans. Penile cancer is often caused by HPV 16 and 18 genotypes. Also, differences in causes of morbidity are considered as differences in the prevalence of risk factors in different populations caused by social and economic factors. Penile cancer can be cured in more than 80% of all cases if the disease is diagnosed at early stage. Having detected the widespread metastases of penile cancer in the adjacent lymph nodes, the 5-year survival rate is reduced to 29%.  Examination of the lymph nodes is very important for the diagnosis of the tumor. Determining the sentinel lymph node is a technically very complex procedure which is used as a diagnosis and treatment method.

Keywords: penile, cancer,  radioactive,  nuclides.