Contemporary survival trends in penile cancer: Results from the National Cancer Database

Objective To investigate contemporary survival trends in penile cancer. Methods The National Cancer Database was queried for men with penile cancer diagnosed between 1998 and 2009. Patient, tumor, treatment, and facility characteristics were obtained. Overall survival (OS) was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression model for all cases and stratified by stage. Results A total of 8,122 cases of penile cancer were reported from 1998 to 2009 in the National Cancer Database. Complete staging, survival, and covariate data were available for 5,043 cases. The estimated crude 5-year OS for the entire cohort was 61.0%. For all patients, no significant differences in crude 5-year OS were detected between 2006 to 2009 and 2002 to 2005 compared to 1998 to 2001. On multivariable analysis, OS did not significantly differ across all eras. Regional lymph node dissection was associated with improved OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.777, P ≤ 0.0001). In patients who underwent lymph node dissection, dissection of ≥8 nodes significantly improved survival (HR = 0.672; P = 0.0011). Additional modeling stratified by stage revealed that OS for stage II cancers increased significantly in 2006 to 2009 compared to 1998 to 2001 (HR = 0.714; P = 0.0034). Conclusions Survival in penile cancer has remained unchanged as a whole and for each stage, except for stage II disease. An improved survival trend was detected in stage II penile cancer. Performing a lymph node dissection, especially extensive dissections, may benefit long-term survival.