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Below, week by week, is what OnCo's record of Localised penile cancer (organ-confined, node-negative) says about the first two months: the order is typical, the timing is yours to ask about. Localised penile cancer is squamous cell cancer confined to the penis with no spread to the groin lymph nodes, and the aim of treatment is to remove the tumour while keeping as much of the penis as possible. Precancer and small tumours are treated with creams, laser or glans-sparing surgery, and the groin nodes are checked by sentinel node biopsy or surveillance rather than removed wholesale. Sections appear only where the record has something to say. Orientation, not medical advice.
Staging tests establish exactly what and where the cancer is. Everything else follows from the answers.
Ask which of these were tested and what the results were; see the report reader for what each value means.
These specialties appear in the standard of care for this cancer. In most centres they meet weekly as a tumour board to agree each plan; you can ask when yours was discussed and what was decided.
A second opinion from a centre that treats many similar cases is normal, not rude; the standard of care tells you what to compare it against.
Each row is a setting from the standard of care, in the order it usually arises. Not all will apply to you; your stage and biomarkers decide which do. The guideline grade, where recorded, says how strong the evidence is.
HPV vaccination (now offered to boys in many countries and being tested in Chinese men) and treatment of phimosis and lichen sclerosus.
Circumcision if the foreskin is involved; topical fluorouracil or imiquimod, laser ablation or glans resurfacing; close follow-up because recurrence is common.
Organ-sparing surgery (wide local excision, glansectomy, partial penectomy) with narrow margins; brachytherapy for small distal tumours; total penectomy only for large or proximal disease.
Surveillance for low-risk tumours (Ta, T1 grade 1 without lymphovascular invasion); dynamic sentinel node biopsy for intermediate- and high-risk tumours, with inguinal lymphadenectomy if positive.
Generated from this cancer's standard of care, biomarkers and open problems. Take the group that matches where you are. To tick, add your own and print, open the one-page appointment sheet.
Trials open now for this cancer in OnCo, largest phase first. Joining a trial is a decision like any other: ask what the comparison arm is, whether a placebo is used, and what happens if you leave. The cancer page searches ClinicalTrials.gov live for more.
Much of what helps in the first weeks is free if you know to ask: testing, helplines, rides and lodging, second opinions, trial travel.
Every term links to the glossary.