Abstract
We report our institution's treatment techniques, disease outcomes, and complication rates after radiotherapy for the management of anal canal carcinoma with intensity-modulated radiotherapy (imrt) and concurrent chemotherapy relative to prior cases managed with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-crt). In a retrospective review of the medical records of 21 patients diagnosed with biopsy-proven stage i (23%), stage ii (27%), or stage iii (50%) squamous-cell carcinoma of the anal canal treated with curative chemotherapy and imrt between July 2009 and December 2014, patient outcomes were determined. Results for patients treated with 3D-crt by the same group were previously reported. The median initial radiation dose to the pelvic and inguinal nodes at risk was 45 Gy (range: 36-50.4 Gy), and the median total dose, including local anal canal primary tumour boost, was 59.4 Gy (range: 41.4-61.2 Gy). Patients received those doses over a median of 32 fractions (range: 23-34 fractions). Chemotherapy consisted of 2 cycles of concurrent fluorouracil-cisplatin (45%) or fluorouracil-mitomycin C (55%). Median follow-up was 3.1 years (range: 0.38-6.4 years). The mean includes a patient who died of septic shock at 38 days. The 3-year rates of overall survival, metastasis-free survival, locoregional control, and colostomy-free survival were 95%, 100%, 100%, and 100% respectively. No patients underwent abdominoperitoneal resection after chemoradiotherapy or required diverting colostomy during or after treatment. Those outcomes compare favourably with the previously published series that used 3D-crt with or without brachytherapy in treating anal canal cancers. Of the 21 patients in the present series, 10 (48%) experienced acute grade 3, 4, or 5 toxicities related to treatment. The recommended use of imrt with concurrent chemotherapy as an improvement over 3D-crt for management of anal canal carcinoma achieves a high probability of local control and colostomy-free survival without excessive risk for acute or late treatment-related toxicities.
Highlights
Anal canal cancer is an uncommon malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract, but its incidence in the United States is increasing[1]
With the approval of our institution’s institutional review board, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records for 21 patients diagnosed with biopsy-proven stage i (23%), stage ii (27%), or stage iii (50%) squamous-cell anal canal carcinoma and treated with curative chemotherapy and imrt between July 2009 and December 2014
The aim of the present study was to report our institution’s experience treating anal canal carcinoma with imrt and concurrent chemotherapy and to compare it with our experience treating the same disease with 3-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-crt), as previously published[12]
Summary
Anal canal cancer is an uncommon malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract, but its incidence in the United States is increasing[1]. Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common subtype of anal canal cancer, followed by adenocarcinoma and cloacal cancer. The treatment of anal canal cancer consisted primarily of abdominal perineal resection with permanent colostomy bag placement, achieving a 5-year e515. Overall survival rate of 57.8% for patients with squamous cell carcinoma[3]. Norman Nigro and colleagues subsequently altered the paradigm for the management of this disease by showing the effectiveness of combined chemotherapy and radiation to avoid the need for abdominal perineal resection[4], allowing for preservation of sphincter function and avoidance of a colostomy
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