Surgical approach for treatment of epidermoid anal carcinoma

The incidence of malignancy of the anus is rare when compared to colorectal cancer. At The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center 43 patients with anal cancer were seen since 1932. Five-year survival for patients treated by local excision, abdominal-perineal resecion, and abdominal perineal resection with associated inguinofemoral groin node dissection was 43%, 66%, and 33%, respectively. Therapy should be guided by location, size, and depth of the local lesion, as well as clinical node status. In general, local excision should be reserved for the most minute lesion. Groin dissection should be carried out when nodes are clinically diseased.