Primary Treatment of Carcinoma of the Anus by Combined Radiotherapy and Chemotherapy

Abstract

Twenty-four patients with carcinoma of the anus were treated with a combined regimen of external irradiation (50 Gy) and mitomycin C and 5-fluorouracil. A relatively large number of patients with locally advanced disease were included. A local complete response rate of 87.5% was obtained. The major acute toxicity was dermatitis/mucositis, necessitating a split course in 14 cases. After treatment four patients had persistent anal incontinence. After an observation period of 40–70 months 14 of the patients were alive without disease. We conclude that the conservative combined radiotherapy/chemotherapy regimen is an effective treatment also of advanced anal carcinoma, with tolerable toxicity and with promising survival results.

Key Words:

• Anal carcinoma
• chemotherapy
• primary treatment
• radiotherapy