Abstract
Background: Up to one-third of patients with anal epidermoid cancer will fail initial chemoradiotherapy (CT-RT) or have local recurrence after treatment. This study evaluates the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) experience with salvage abdominoperineal resection (APR) in these patients.
Methods: Thirty-eight patients who underwent salvage APR following 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), mitomycin C, and radiotherapy over the past 12 years were analyzed by retrospective review. Survival was calculated by the Kaplan-Meier method and comparisons by log-rank analysis.
Results: The indications for APR were recurrent disease after CT-RT in 14 patients and persistent disease in 24 patients. Median follow-up time and survival were 47 and 41 months, respectively. The actuarial 5-year survival was 44%. Twenty-three patients had recurrent disease after APR. Inguinal lymphadenopathy at initial presentation (p<0.05), fixation of tumor to the pelvic sidewall (p<0.01), and pathologic involvement of the perirectal fat (p<0.01) adversely affected survival. Age, gender, initial response to CT-RT, initial stage of the primary tumor, histologic levator muscle involvement, status of perirectal lymph nodes, and extent of lymphadenectomy did not affect survival.
Conclusions: Salvage APR can be expected to yield a moderate number of long-term survivors, but the high rate of disseminated failure suggests the need for additional postoperative treatment.
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Ellenhorn, J.D.I., Enker, W.E. & Quan, S.H.Q. Salvage abdominoperineal resection following combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy for epidermoid carcinoma of the anus. Annals of Surgical Oncology 1, 105–110 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02303552
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02303552