Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Case Report
  • Published:

Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis—a rare differential diagnosis of Peyronie's disease

International Journal of Impotence Research volume 15, pages 378–382 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

We report on a case of penile epithelioid sarcoma in a 29-year-old man presenting with a dorsal penile plaque that primarily was misdiagnosed as Peyronie's disease. Although the initial clinical findings of these two different entities appear similar, the consequence for the patient is severe. The only way of differentiating these disorders are histological findings. The principal microscopic characteristics of epithelioid sarcoma are the distinctive nodular arrangement, central degeneration and necrosis of the tumor cells with epithelioid appearance and eosinophilia. Immunohistochemical data (cytokeratin, epithelial membrane antigen, vimentin, CD 34, desmin) confirm the diagnosis. We conclude that in cases with slightest doubts on the diagnosis of Peyronie's disease, especially in younger men suffering from a fast-growing penile induration, a bioptic clarification of the entity should be performed to exclude a high malignant disease that can be only treated as far as it is localized by radical surgery.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dehner LP, Smith BH . Soft tissue tumors of the penis. A clinicopathologic study of 46 cases. Cancer 1970; 25: 1431–1447.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Moore SW, Wheeler JE, Hefter LG . Epithelioid sarcoma masquerading as Peyronie's disease. Cancer 1975; 35: 1706–1710.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Iossifides I, Ayala AG, Johnson DE . Epithelioid sarcoma of penis. Urology 1979; 14: 190–191.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Zungri E, Algaba F, Santaularia JM . Epithelioid sarcoma of penis. Eur Urol 1983; 9: 53–55.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Pueblitz S et al. Epithelioid sarcoma of penis. Urology 1986; 28: 246–249.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Gower RL, Pambakian H, Fletcher CD . Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis: a rare tumour to be distinguished from squamous carcinoma. Br J Urol 1987; 59: 592–593.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Leviav A, Devine PC, Schellhammer PF, Horton CE . Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis. Clin Plast Surg 1988; 15: 489–492.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Millan JA et al. Cutaneous metastasis of epithelioid sarcoma of the penis: report of a case. Actas Urol Esp 1992; 16: 254–256.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Huang DJ, Stanisic TH, Hansen KK . Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis. J Urol 1992; 147: 1370–1372.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Dominguez C et al. Epithelioid sarcoma of penis simulating Peyronie's disease. Br J Urol 1993; 72: 975.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Guillou L et al. ‘Proximal-type’ epithelioid sarcoma, a distinctive aggressive neoplasm showing rhabdoid features. Clinicopathologic, immunohistochemical, and ultrastructural study of a series. Am J Surg Pathol 1997; 21: 130–146.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Corsi A, Perugia G, de Matteis A . Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis. Clinicopathologic study of a tumor with myogenic features and review of the literature concerning this unusual location. Pathol Res Pract 1999; 195: 441–448.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Sarica K et al. Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis. Urol Int 1999; 62: 124–126.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Yaman Ö et al. Penile epithelioid sarcoma. Urol Int 1999; 62: 252–254.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sirikci A et al. Penile epithelioid sarcoma: MR imaging findings. Eur Radiol 1999; 9: 1593–1595.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Oto A, Meyer J . MR appearance of penile epithelioid sarcoma. AJR Am J Roentgenol 1999; 172: 555–556.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Ormsby AH et al. Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis: report of an unusual case and review of the literature. Ann Diag Pathol 2000; 4: 88–94.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Rossi G, Ferrari G, Longo L, Trentini GP . Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis: a case report and review of the literature. Pathol Int 2000; 50: 579–585.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Enzinger FM . Epithelioid sarcoma. A sarcoma simulating a granuloma or carcinoma. Cancer 1970; 26: 1029–1041.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Miettinen M et al. Epithelioid sarcoma: an immunohistochemical analysis of 112 classical and variant cases and a discussion of the differential diagnosis. Hum Pathol 1999; 30: 934–942.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Gholami SS, Lue TF . Peyronie's disease. Urol Clin North Am 2001; 28: 377–390.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Parham DM, Weeks DA, Beckwith JB . The clinicopathologic spectrum of putative extrarenal rhabdoid tumors: an analysis of 42 cases studied with immunohistochemistry or electron microscopy. Am J Surg Pathol 1994; 18: 1010–1029.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Wick MR, Ritter HJ, Dehner LP . Malignant rhabdoid tumors: a clinicopathologic review and conceptual discussion. Semin Diagn Pathol 1995; 12: 233–248.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Van de Rijn M, Rouse VE . CD 34: a review. Appl Immunhistochem 1994; 2: 71–80.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Urology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    E W Hauck, H U Schmelz, T Diemer & W Weidner

  2. Department of Radiology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    N Hackstein

  3. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    K Fenchel

  4. Department of Pathology, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany

    B Knoblauch

Authors
  1. E W Hauck
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. H U Schmelz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. T Diemer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. N Hackstein
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. K Fenchel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. W Weidner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. B Knoblauch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to E W Hauck.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hauck, E., Schmelz, H., Diemer, T. et al. Epithelioid sarcoma of the penis—a rare differential diagnosis of Peyronie's disease. Int J Impot Res 15, 378–382 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901020

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijir.3901020

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links