PURPOSE: We assessed contemporary incidence rates and trends of primary urethral cancer. METHODS: We identified urethral cancer patients within Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results registry (SEER, 2004-2016). Age-standardized incidence rates per 1,000,000 (ASR) were calculated. Log linear regression analyses were used to compute average annual percent change (AAPC). RESULTS: From 2004 to 2016, 1907 patients with urethral cancer were diagnosed (ASR 1.69; AAPC: -0.98%, p = 0.3). ASR rates were higher in males than in females (2.70 vs. 0.55), respectively and did not change over the time (both p = 0.3). Highest incidence rates were recorded in respectively ≥75 (0.77), 55-74 (0.71) and ≤54 (0.19) years of age categories, in that order. African Americans exhibited highest incidence rate (3.33) followed by Caucasians (1.72), other race groups (1.57) and Hispanics (1.57), in that order. A significant decrease occurred over time in Hispanics, but not in other race groups. In African Americans, male and female sex-stratified incidence rates were higher than in any other race group. Urothelial histological subtype exhibited highest incidence rate (0.92), followed by squamous cell carcinoma (0.41), adenocarcinoma (0.29) and other histologies (0.20). In stage stratified analyses, T1N0M0 stage exhibited highest incidence rate. However, it decreased over time (-3.00%, p = 0.02) in favor of T1-4N1-2M0 stage (+ 2.11%, p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Urethral cancer is rare. Its incidence rates are highest in males, elderly patients, African Americans and in urothelial histological subtype. Most urethral cancer cases are T1N0M0, but over time, the incidence of T1N0M0 decreased in favor of T1-4N1-2M0.

Cancer Prognostics and Health Outcomes Unit Division of Urology University of Montréal Health Center Montréal Québec Canada

Department of Neurosciences Reproductive Sciences and Odontostomatology University of Naples Federico 2 Naples Italy

Department of Urology 2nd Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prag Czech Republic

Department of Urology and Division of Experimental Oncology URI Urological Research Institute IBCAS San Raffaele Scientific Institute Milan Italy

Department of Urology Comprehensive Cancer Center Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria

Department of Urology University Hospital Frankfurt Theodor Stern Kai 7 60590 Frankfurt am Main Germany

Department of Urology University of Texas Southwestern Dallas TX USA

Departments of Urology Weill Cornell Medical College New York NY USA

Division of Urology Department of Special Surgery Jordan University Hospital The University of Jordan Amman Jordan

Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health 1 M Sechenov 1st Moscow State Medical University Moscow Russia

Martini Klinik Prostate Cancer Center University Hospital Hamburg Eppendorf Hamburg Germany

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