Stereotactic Radiotherapy for Penile Metastasis: Case Report and Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Introduction Penile metastases (PM) are a rare clinical presentation mainly related to advanced stages of disease. Considering the low incidence, an optimal treatment approach has not yet been defined; surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy are different options used in the vast majority with palliative intent. The advances in modern RT can represent an innovative tool in PM management and a curative option. This paper aims to report the case of a PM patient treated with Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) and perform a systematic literature review of current evidence on the RT approach to PM. Case report We reported the case of an 80-year-old patient with PM from primary bladder cancer. Following the surgical approach for the primary tumor, evidence of PM was shown, and the patient was admitted to SBRT treatment on PM after an adjuvant RT course on the pelvis. A 25 Gy in 5 fractions SBRT treatment was performed, and a complete clinical response was shown at the first follow-up. Methods A Pubmed/MEDLINE and Embase systematic review was carried out. The search strategy terms were [('penile metastasis'/exp OR 'penile metastasis' OR (penile AND ('metastasis'/exp OR metastasis))) AND ('radiotherapy'/exp OR radiotherapy)] and only original articles up to the 24.10.2023 were considered. Results A total of 174 studies were obtained using the previously mentioned search strategy, and the analysis was performed on 15 papers obtained following the complete selection process. All reported evidence was focused on the palliative approach of PM showing good results in terms of symptom control. Discussion The potential role of modern RT in the management of PM has yet to be defined. The reported case showed the feasibility and the clinical impact of SBRT in PM treatment.