Adherence to the EAU Guideline Recommendations for Local Tumor Treatment in Penile Cancer: Results of the European PROspective Penile Cancer Study Group Survey (E-PROPS)

Maximilian Pallauf, Marie C. Hempel*, Marie C. Hupe, Matthias May, Marlene Haccius, Dorothea Weckermann, Steffen Lebentrau, Bernd Hoschke, Ulrike Necknig, Jesco Pfitzenmaier, Lukas Manka, Philipp Nuhn, Peter Törzsök, Lukas Lusuardi, Axel S. Merseburger

*Corresponding author for this work

Abstract

Introduction: Penile cancer (PeCa) is an orphan disease in European countries. The current guidelines are predominantly based on retrospective studies with a low level of evidence. In our study, we aimed to identify predictors for guideline-conform treatment and hypothesize that reference centers for PeCa and physicians' experience promote guideline compliance and therefore correct local tumor therapy. Methods: This study is part of the European PROspective Penile Cancer Study (E-PROPS), an international collaboration group evaluating therapeutic management for PeCa in Central Europe. For this module, a 14-item-survey was developed and sent to 681 urologists in 45 European centers. Three questions focused on therapeutic decisions for PeCa in clinical stage Tis, Ta-T1a, and T1b. Four questions addressed potential personal confounders. Survey results were analyzed by bootstrap-adjusted stepwise multivariate linear regression analysis to identify predictors for EAU guideline-conform local treatment of PeCa. Results: For local therapy of cTis 80.4% recommended guideline-conform treatment, for cTa-cT1a 87.3% and for cT1b 59.1%. In total, 42.4% chose a correct approach in all tumor stages. The number of PeCa patients treated at the hospital, a higher level of training of the physicians, resource-based answering and the option of penile-sparing surgery offered at the hospital matched with giving guideline-conform recommendations and thus accurate local tumor treatment. Conclusion: Patients with PeCa are best treated by experienced physicians, in centers with a high number of cases, which also offer a wide range of local tumor therapy. This could be offered in reference centers.

Original languageEnglish
JournalAdvances in Therapy
Volume37
Issue number12
Pages (from-to)4969-4980
Number of pages12
ISSN0741-238X
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 01.12.2020

Research Areas and Centers

  • Research Area: Luebeck Integrated Oncology Network (LION)

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