Appraisal of the treatment of carcinoma of the anus and anal canal.

Anal bleeding and pain were the symptoms in half of 53 patients with carcinoma within and around the area of the anus treated from 1950 to 1974. Twenty-seven carcinomas were exclusively located in the anal canal and six, in the perianal skin. Vaginal invasion was present in 13 of the women. There were 39 squamous cell carcinomas and nine basaloid cell carcinomas. More than 37 of the patients had an abdominoperineal resection as part of the treatment. The resection margins were positive for carcinomas in 11 patients. Radiation as the primary treatment was used only once. Palpably enlarged inguinal lymph nodes were treated by subsequent radical groin dissection. The crude over-all survival rate was 42 per cent; the adjusted five year survival rate was 38 per cent. Significant correlates of death were symptoms for longer than six months' duration bleeding, inguinal adenopathy and presence of hemorrhoids. In general, abdominoperineal resection is the operation of choice for carcinoma of the anal verge or anal canal. Inguinal lymphadenectomy at a later time should be reserved for patients with signs of metastases to the inguinal nodes.