DOI: 10.1097/01.COT.0000295183.22744.6c

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Issn Print: 0276-2234

Publication Date: 2003/05/25


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NCCN Writes Its First Anal Cancer Guidelines

Ed Susman

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HOLLYWOOD, FL—Although the anal canal and anal margin are anatomically a small part of the body, anal cancers are remarkably diverse, experts said in presenting the first treatment guidelines for the disease developed by a committee of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).
Speaking here at the NCCN's annual conference, Paul F. Engstrom, MD, Professor of Medicine at Temple University School of Medicine and Senior Vice President of Population Science at Fox Chase Cancer Center, said anal cancer usually presents as a pain-causing lesion “clearly visible to the naked eye and to the examining finger on digital rectal examination.”
How the patient is treated depends greatly on whether the lesion can be excised without damage to critical structures, he noted.
“It's important to consider computer tomography of a magnetic resonance imaging scan in full evaluation of these patients. Then the clinical stage depends upon the size of the lesion and the depth of penetration. Surgery is appropriate for a carcinoma in situ, whereas the more invasive lesions are managed with radiotherapy and chemotherapy.”
The only difference in treatment for different stage disease is the amount of radiotherapy dose for the more advanced lesions, he said.
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