Can You Get Cancer in Your Penis?
Can You Get Cancer in Your Penis?
If your cancer is in the early stages, your treatment may include:
If your cancer is advanced, treatment may involve any of the above, and/or:
Most treatments for early-stage penile cancer don’t affect your ability to have sex, but chemotherapy and radiation may. Talk to your doctor about possible side effects.
Scientists are looking for new ways to treat early and advanced penile cancer in these studies, which test new drugs to see if they're safe and if they work. Clinical trials often are a way for people to try new medicine that isn't available to everyone. Your doctor can tell you if one of these studies might be a good fit for you.
Before you sign up, ask for information on what’s involved, and what the risks and benefits would be. You can learn more about different trials throughout the U.S. at the National Cancer Institute’s web site, http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials.
Ask your doctor about support groups at your hospital or in your community. You can also find support groups for men with penile cancer online.
As you go through your treatment, it can also help to talk with a therapist or social worker who works with people who have cancer.
What Is Penile Cancer?
In this article
Treatments
If your cancer is in the early stages, your treatment may include:
- A medicine that goes on your skin as a cream
- Cryotherapy, a procedure that uses an extremely cold liquid or a device to freeze and destroy tissue that contains cancer
- Mohs surgery, in which doctors remove affected skin, one layer at a time, until they reach normal, healthy tissue
- Lasers to cut and destroy areas that contain cancer
- Circumcision, which is surgery to remove the foreskin. You would have this procedure if you only had cancer in your foreskin.
If your cancer is advanced, treatment may involve any of the above, and/or:
- Surgery to remove your lymph nodes if your cancer has spread to them
- Radiation and/or chemotherapy to rid your body of cancer cells
- A penectomy, which is surgery to remove some or all of your penis
Most treatments for early-stage penile cancer don’t affect your ability to have sex, but chemotherapy and radiation may. Talk to your doctor about possible side effects.
Clinical Trials
Scientists are looking for new ways to treat early and advanced penile cancer in these studies, which test new drugs to see if they're safe and if they work. Clinical trials often are a way for people to try new medicine that isn't available to everyone. Your doctor can tell you if one of these studies might be a good fit for you.
Before you sign up, ask for information on what’s involved, and what the risks and benefits would be. You can learn more about different trials throughout the U.S. at the National Cancer Institute’s web site, http://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clinical-trials.
Resources and Support
Ask your doctor about support groups at your hospital or in your community. You can also find support groups for men with penile cancer online.
As you go through your treatment, it can also help to talk with a therapist or social worker who works with people who have cancer.
