Objective: Patient reports of their symptom burden (i.e., patient-reported outcomes or PROs) have been shown to direct clinicians’ ability to personalize care and improve outcomes. A disciplined assessment of PRO in the population of patients with penile cancer (PeCa) has not previously been undertaken. Our center has both a significant cadre of patients with PeCa and a significant experience with a well-established PRO: the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (ESAS).
Methods: After IRB approval, we screened ESAS surveys of 14,781 patients completed between 2/2017 and 2/2021. Of these, those with PeCa were divided into three cohorts: (A) Those after any partial penectomy procedure without lymph node dissection (LND); (B) Those after partial penectomy procedure with LND; and (C) Those after total penectomy and LND. Patients with recurrent disease were analyzed separately. ESAS scores were collated and compared both by individual symptom and cumulatively.
Results: 22 PeCa patients completed 122 ESAS surveys in this time and are included in this analysis: a median of 4 ESAS surveys (mean=5, range=1-19) were completed by each patient. The symptom with the highest median ESAS score was Tiredness (3.00). Patients with recurrent disease had the highest cumulative symptom score (median score = 30). Patients after total penectomy with LND had a higher cumulative symptom score (14.4) than those with partial penectomy and LND (7.9).
Conclusions: PROs provide an insight into the morbidity of therapies for PeCa, and the most symptoms are reported by patients with recurrent disease.