Gastrointestinal Cancer

Anal Cancer

Signs and Symptoms
Diagnosis
Treatment

Treatment

Surgery
The optimal management of anal cancer may not require surgery after the biopsy is performed. While a surgeon may be able to take out the cancer from the anus using a variety of methods, the preferred treatment may be chemotherapy and radiation.

Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy uses X-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation may come from a machine outside the body, or external radiation therapy, or from putting materials that produce radiation, or radioisotopes, through thin plastic tubes in the area where the cancer cells are found, called internal radiation therapy. Radiation can be used alone or in addition to other treatments.

Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy may be taken by pill, or it may be put into the body by a needle in a vein or muscle. Chemotherapy is called a systemic treatment because the drugs enter the bloodstream, travel through the body, and can kill cancer cells throughout the body. Some chemotherapy drugs can also make cancer cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy can be used together to shrink tumors and make surgery unnecessary. When only limited or no surgery is required, the sphincter muscle can often be saved.

Last reviewed in April 2002 by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.