Anal Cancer
Overview
Anal cancer accounts for 1.6% of all GI malignancies in the US. Its incidence increases with age; the peak is in the sixth and seventh decades. HPV has been liked to this disease, as has renal transplant, smokers, and patients with HIV infection. Symptoms include pain, mass, constipation, diarrhea, and itching, however 25% of cases are asymptomatic. Procedures for diagnosis include physical exam, anoscopy, proctoscopy, and transrectal ultrasound. A biopsy is required. Staging includes imaging. Women should have a gynecologic exam screening for HPV. Both men and women should be checked for HIV.
Treatment Options
Treatment can include surgery, combined chemotherapy and radiation or chemotherapy alone. Chemotherapy agents used include 5-FU, mitomycin, and cisplatin.
Anal Cancer Specialists
Dr. Raymond Tsao
Dr. Vijay Narendran
Sujal Shah, MD
Sujal Shah, MD is a former assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas at Austin and an associate instructor of clinical medicine at Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dr. Shah completed his internal medicine residency and his hematology and oncology fellowship at Tulane University Hospital and Clinics in New Orleans.
Dr. Shah is currently seeing patients with different types of cancers, with a focus on lung cancer and head and neck cancers. Dr. Shah is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the American Society of Hematology.
Kelly Foster, MD
