Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Feb 28, 2015; 21(8): 2294-2302
Published online Feb 28, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i8.2294
Anal cancer treatment: Current status and future perspectives
Marwan Ghosn, Hampig Raphael Kourie, Pamela Abdayem, Joelle Antoun, Dolly Nasr
Marwan Ghosn, Hampig Raphael Kourie, Pamela Abdayem, Joelle Antoun, Dolly Nasr, Hematology-Oncology Department, Faculty Of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Beirut, Lebanon
Author contributions: Ghosn M initiated the review; Abdayem P and Kourie HR performed the review and wrote and analyzed the data; Ghosn M, Antoun J, and Nasr D reviewed and commented on the paper and provided final approval.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Marwan Ghosn, MD, Department of Oncology, Faculty of Medicine, Saint Joseph University, Monot Street, PO Box 166830, Beirut, Lebanon. mghosn.hdf@usj.edu.lb
Telephone: +961-3-226842 Fax: +961-1-613397
Received: August 30, 2014
Peer-review started: August 31, 2014
First decision: September 27, 2014
Revised: October 24, 2014
Accepted: December 22, 2014
Article in press: December 22, 2014
Published online: February 28, 2015
Processing time: 182 Days and 14.3 Hours
Abstract

Anal cancers (AC) are relatively rare tumors. Their incidence is increasing, particularly among men who have sex with other men due to widespread infection by human papilloma virus. The majority of anal cancers are squamous cell carcinomas, and they are treated according to stage. In local and locally advanced AC, concomitant chemoradiation therapy based on mitomycin C and 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) is the current best treatment, while metastatic AC, chemotherapy with 5-FU and cisplatin remains the gold standard. There are no indications for induction or maintenance therapies in locally advanced tumors. Many novel strategies, such as targeted therapies, vaccination, immunotherapy and photodynamic therapy are in clinical trials for the treatment of AC, with promising results in some indications.

Keywords: Anal cancer; Optimum treatment; Updates; Guidelines; Novel approaches

Core tip: This paper will be the newest study with the most recent updates in the treatment of anal cancer. After a brief review of different treatment of localized and metastatic anal cancer, the current options as well as novel therapies and approaches in future.