Surgical treatment of 45 horses affected by squamous cell carcinoma of the penis and prepuce.
Authors: Mair T S, Walmsley J P, Phillips T J
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
Penile and preputial squamous cell carcinoma in horses typically affects older animals (mean age 17.4 years), with tumours frequently involving multiple anatomical sites including the glans, penile body, and preputial folds. This retrospective review of 45 cases compared surgical approaches ranging from partial penile resection (posthectomy) to complete penectomy, with or without lymph node dissection and penile retroversion. Whilst immediate postoperative complications were generally manageable—primarily preputial oedema and haemorrhage—recurrence occurred in 19% of horses with long-term follow-up (6 of 31 cases), necessitating euthanasia in five of these six animals. The data suggest that complete penectomy is the most commonly employed intervention, though the substantial recurrence rate warrants careful client counselling regarding prognosis and consideration of whether more aggressive surgical margins or adjunctive therapies might improve outcomes in selected cases. For practitioners involved in postoperative management, attention to urethral oedema and haemostasis during the immediate recovery period is critical, whilst long-term monitoring remains essential given the risk of local tumour recurrence in nearly one-fifth of treated horses.
Read the full abstract on PubMed
Practical Takeaways
- •Squamous cell carcinoma of the penis/prepuce is a disease of older horses (mean 17.4 years); early recognition and surgical intervention may improve outcomes given 19% recurrence rate even with treatment
- •Phallectomy is the primary surgical approach but carries postoperative risks including oedema and haemorrhage; owners should be counselled that recurrence necessitates euthanasia in most cases
- •Extended surgical techniques including lymph node removal may be warranted in selected cases, though long-term outcome data are limited
Key Findings
- •Mean age of affected horses was 17.4 years, with glans penis involvement in 24 of 43 horses with recorded lesion location
- •Phallectomy was the most common surgical treatment, performed in 35 of 45 horses, with additional techniques including segmental posthectomy and en bloc resection with lymph node removal
- •Long-term follow-up of 31 horses showed neoplastic recurrence in 6 cases (19%), necessitating euthanasia in 5 of these recurrent cases
- •Short-term postoperative complications included preputial oedema and haemorrhage, with one horse developing acute urinary retention from severe urethral oedema