Abdominoperineal resection

Biology

Colorectal cancer

Chemoradiotherapy

Rectum

Malignancy

Radiation therapy

Radiology

Paleontology

Regimen

Stage (stratigraphy)

Anal canal

Internal medicine

Oncology

Medicine

Anal cancer

Cancer

Anal Carcinoma

ESMO Open

Squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum is a rare malignancy (0.3% of all rectal cancers), with no known risk factor. These tumours are assessed as rectal cancer using immunohistochemical and radiological tests, and certain criteria (localisation, relationship with neighbouring structures) have to be fulfilled to make the diagnosis. Some clinicians used to stage them with the anal cancer TNM (tumour-node-metastasis), whereas others used the rectal cancer TNM. When localised, the tendency nowadays is to treat those tumours like squamous anal cancers with definitive chemoradiotherapy (5-fluorouracil and mitomycin) and to skip surgery. For metastatic disease there is no clearly validated regimen and treatment should be based on recommendations of squamous anal cancers because of their common histology. Concerning follow-up after a curative approach, techniques should follow those for anal cancer as well, evaluating a delayed response.

Squamous rectal carcinoma: a rare malignancy, literature review and management recommendations