Cancer of the Anus: A Five Year Review of Cases at Gondar University Hospital and a Thirty-Five Year Experience of a Single Surgeon

Andinet Dessalegn , Bernard B Anderson
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v5i1.207
Submitted: 2021-07-14 07:46:04
Published: 2021-07-14

Cancers of the Anus are rare, constituting approximately 2% of colon, rectal, and anal malignancies. Considering
its rarity, the authors describe the experience with this rare disease over a 5-year period in Ethiopian patients
treated at Gondar University Hospital as well as cases personally treated by a single general surgeon over a 35-
year period. In this series, we have demonstrated that surgery remains an important treatment modality, especially
where alternate therapeutic options are limited even though chemoradiotherapy has emerged as the best initial
approach to the treatment of anal cancer. At Gondar University hospital both a higher relative incidence of anal
cancer was detected in patients with cancer of the colon, rectum, and anus (12% Vs 2%) with a higher incidence in
males (83.3%). We have demonstrated that in selected cases anal sphincter involvement does not always dictate
abdominoperineal resection. In addition digital rectal examination with biopsy of any suspicious lesion is advised
for patients at increased risk.

Keywords

Anal cancer Digital Rectal Examination Sphincter muscle invasion

Authors

Andinet Dessalegn

Surgical resident at the University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences

Bernard B Anderson

Associate Professor of Surgery at the University of Gondar, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Surgery 

How to Cite

Andinet Dessalegn, Bernard B Anderson (2021-07-14). Cancer of the Anus: A Five Year Review of Cases at Gondar University Hospital and a Thirty-Five Year Experience of a Single Surgeon. Ethiopian Journal of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Vol. 5 No. 1 (2012), 61-71. https://doi.org/10.20372/ejhbs.v5i1.207

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Copyright © 2021 The Author(s)

Copyright & Licensing © Year The Author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) , which permits unrestricted use; sharing (copying and redistributing the material in any medium or format); and adaptation (remixing, transforming, and building upon the material for any purpose), provided the original author(s) and the source are properly cited/credited and a link to the license is provided. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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