Multi-modality therapy for epidermoid carcinoma of the anus.

Three patients presenting with surgically incurable epidermoid carcinoma of the anus were treated by radiation therapy and chemotherapy consisting of 5 fluorouracil and Mitomycin C. The first patient succumbed during the course of her therapy. The second patient is alive and well without definite evidence of disease nearly 1 1/2 years after initiation of therapy. The third patient underwent abdominoperineal resection after radiation and chemotherapy; pathologic examination revealed no residual carcinoma and the patient is well nearly 1 year after surgery. A fourth patient with previously treated epidermoid carcinoma of the anus presented with biopsy-proven pulmonary metastasis and was placed on the chemotherapeutic regimen alone. Six weeks later his chest X-ray showed essentially complete disappearance of the metastatic nodules. This experience suggests that multimodality therapy may increase salvage in even locally far-advanced and metastatic epidermoid anal carcinoma.