Metastasis in penile corpus cavernosum from esophageal squamous carcinoma after curative resection: a case report

Abstract

Background Metastasis in penile corpus cavernosum from esophageal squamous carcinoma is a rare but fatal disease, which was reported in cases without series studies. Case presentation An 84-year-old male smoker, who had a history of curative resection of esophageal squamous carcinoma 12 months before, presented with aggressive dysuria and penis pain for 1 month. Ultrasonic guided biopsy diagnosed metastatic squamous carcinoma from the primary in the esophagus. The accurately modulated conformal radiotherapy and non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs achieved to alleviate the penis pain temporarily. But the disease progressed and disseminated in a short period. He died of multiple metastases and cancer cachexia in 4 months. Conclusions Primary esophageal cancer metastasis to penile corpus cavernosum refers to short onset time of metastasis, extensive dissemination, bad response to treatment and poor prognosis. Palliative therapy to patients with the disease could achieve temporary local symptom relief, but not prolong survival time. More research is necessary to understand the underlying mechanism of esophagheal metastasis.

Thrombosis of the dorsal vein of the penis as first clinical presentation of pancreatic cancer metastatic to the penis

“…Except for few cases, survival does not exceed 2 years after diagnosis of penile metastatic disease and most patients die between 3 and 12 months after diagnosis. 1,2 Our patient is the fourth reported case of penile metastasis from pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The first one was reported in 1971 by Weitzner, 5 who described a squamous cell carcinoma of the pancreas with multiple organ metastasis in autoptic findings.…”

“…The remaining 5% is equally shared between bone and skin malignancies. 2,3 The suggested spreading mechanism to the penis is probably through the hematologic route, via arterial or retrograde venous supply, but also a lymphovascular and direct spread from the surrounding organs has been proposed. Authors reported neoplastic thrombi in a high proportion of metastases from colonrectum and genitourinary tract.…”

“…Commonly, about 50% of patients have metastasis to other organs such as liver, lungs, and gastrointestinal tract. 2,3 The available treatments of metastatic disease to the penis are usually palliative. The aim is improving patient's quality of life and pain relief.…”

“…1 About 500 cases of penile metastatic disease are reported in literature, mainly from genitourinary tract malignancy followed by rectal, gastrointestinal, and lung cancer. 2,3 Pancreatic adenocarcinoma is an aggressive neoplasm and the fourth leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world. Surgical resection is the only potentially curative treatment.…”

Penile metastasis from rectal carcinoma: A case report

“…Our results are consistent with the findings of previous studies that have investigated penile metastasis from other primary sites. Song et al [ 14 ] emphasised that the time to metastasis occurrence was negatively correlated with the prognosis in penile metastasis from oesophageal squamous carcinoma. According to Wen et al [ 15 ], lymph node metastasis may have a negative correlation with the prognosis.…”