During Movember, the annual campaign to raise awareness of men's health, the Belgian Cancer Foundation is drawing attention to penile cancer, a rare but highly aggressive disease often diagnosed too late due to stigma and embarrassment.
In 2023, 133 new cases were recorded in Belgium, and 28 men died from the disease. Over the past five years, 414 men have been diagnosed, with the number of cases rising by an average of 1.66% per year since 2004. The average age at diagnosis is 71, and the five-year survival rate stands at 70.2%.
"Penile cancer is very dangerous," said Professor Maarten Albersen, a urological oncologist at University Hospitals Leuven. "If lymph nodes are affected at diagnosis, the survival rate drops to 35%. If there are metastases, survival is almost impossible."
The Cancer Foundation says around half of all cases are preventable, mainly because many are linked to chronic infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV). It is therefore urging parents to vaccinate both boys and girls up to age 19 under Belgium’s free HPV vaccination programme.
Other risk factors include phimosis (tight foreskin), chronic inflammation, lichen sclerosus, smoking, a history of genital infections or injuries, and exposure to certain UVA phototherapies. Early detection, the foundation stresses, remains key to saving lives.
