Staging penile (penis) cancer gives your doctors important details about the cancer. These details help them better understand the cancer’s prognosis (its predicted course) and how it will respond to different treatments.
Penile cancer is rare — just 1 percent of cancers diagnosed in males in the U.S. are in the penis. At the Abramson Cancer Center, you benefit from a team of penile cancer specialists with extensive experience. We stage many penile cancers in our active program. Our experts use this experience to better inform your care.
Why Penile Cancer Staging Is Important
Staging penile cancer gives your care team a wealth of information about the cancer. Understanding cancer down to the makeup of its cells helps us:
- Map the size, aggressiveness and growth of a cancer
- Compare your situation to other patients with penile cancer
- Gather the information needed to make informed treatment decisions
- Personalize treatments
- Give you more penile cancer treatment options by reviewing clinical studies on groups of patients in similar cancer stages
What Are the Stages of Penile Cancer?
The stages of penile cancer are:
- Stage 0: In stage 0 penile cancer, the surface of the penis has abnormal cells or growths that look like warts.
- Stage I: Cancerous cells have formed and spread to connective tissues under the skin of the penis.
- Stage II: Cancer has spread to the connective tissues under the surface of the penis. It may also have spread to lymph nodes, erectile tissue or the urethra (tube-like organ that drains urine from the bladder).
- Stage III: The cancer has spread outside the penis to lymph nodes in the groin. It has also spread to connective tissue, erectile tissue, the urethra or more lymph nodes outside the groin.
- Stage IV: The cancer has spread beyond the penis to tissues near the penis, such as the prostate. It has also spread to one or more lymph nodes in the pelvis or other areas of the body.
How We Stage Penile Cancer
We stage penile cancer using blood tests, biopsies and imaging tests. Radiologists (imaging specialists) and pathologists (lab specialists) review your cells and images.
Radiologists at the Abramson Cancer Center specialize in urologic cancers. They regularly see penile cancers at every stage. This focus gives them insights that others don’t have, leading to more effective treatment plans.
Read more about penile cancer diagnosis.
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