Treatments

Anal Cancer Treatments

Your treatment options depend on your cancer stage, test results and health. Most people have local cancer (cancer that has not spread). The most common treatment for local cancer is combined radiation and chemotherapy, avoiding surgery.

If that treatment does not reduce the cancer, you may need surgery that will leave you with a colostomy. A colostomy is a surgical opening in the abdomen. The surgeon will bring the end of the colon to the skin surface. All poop and gas will leave the body through the opening and go into a special smell-proof pouch.

Some people with very small tumors may be able to have limited surgery as their main treatment.

The goal of treatment can be:

• Treat or eliminate the cancer
• Manage the cancer or prevent it from growing for as long as possible
• Ease problems caused by the cancer

Talk with your care team about your treatment options and goals, as well as any risks and side effects. Treatment can be either local or systemic:

• Local treatments remove, destroy or control cancer cells in one area. Surgery and radiation are local treatments.
• Systemic treatment helps destroy or control cancer cells that have traveled around your body. Chemotherapy and immunotherapy for metastatic disease (given with chemotherapy or alone) are types of systemic treatment.

Some key treatments of anal cancer are radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery. You and your care team may opt for one treatment or a combination. Make sure to ask questions and raise any concerns about your care plan before making a decision.

If you have HIV, it’s important to continue HIV treatment and coordinate care with both your HIV team and oncology team.

Treatment Side Effects

Cancer treatment, including chemotherapy and radiation, may damage cells in your body. This can lead to hair loss, mouth sores, vomiting and other side effects.

Immunotherapies are treatments that boost your immune system to help fight cancer. People with metastatic cancer may have certain side effects if they get immunotherapy. Your care team will talk with you about them.

Speak with your care team about the side effects of your treatment plan. There are often ways to manage side effects.

If you need surgery, parts of your anus and/or rectum may be removed. In this case, you will no longer be able to poop in the way you have before. Your surgeon and care team can explore your options after surgery.