Alastair Munro had 30% of his penis removed in a seven-hour operation that was filmed for surgeons at the edge of life. The construction engineer from Inverness had been diagnosed with penile cancer after noticing a lump that was getting bigger.
Doctors later removed the tumour, the groin lymph nodes where the cancer had spread, and rebuilt his penis with a skin graft from his thigh. Penile cancer affects 80 to 90 men a year in Scotland and 700 across the UK.
Munro and Raigmore
Munro, 49, said he waited about six weeks before seeing a doctor after first noticing the lump. A GP told him it was likely cancer, then a urologist at Raigmore said the same thing a week later.
“It was quite a bold thing to say,” he said of the GP’s assessment. “I was shocked. He couldn't say 100% but he thought it was cancer.”
A biopsy later showed penile cancer, and a CT scan found that it was spreading. He said, “I was pretty shocked but had been confident it was cancer,” and added, “I'd never, ever heard of this kind of cancer before. Things moved pretty quickly after that.”
Seven-hour operation
The operation took seven hours, and surgeons also removed the lymph nodes in his groin. Six weeks later, Munro had another operation that lasted three and a half hours after results from the first surgery showed a small amount of tumour was still present.
He was told there was a 50% chance the cancer would spread to his pelvic area, a risk that drove the follow-up surgery. The case will appear on Wednesday’s episode of the television series.
Munro's warning
Munro is now urging men to see a GP as soon as they notice anything that does not seem right. For anyone who finds a new lump or change, his case shows how quickly a first check can lead to treatment when cancer is involved.
