Patients with Anal Cancer Have Low Functional and High Symptomatic Health-Related Quality of Life Scores After Chemoradiation

Excerpt

Anal cancer is a rare malignancy that is treated with chemoradiation, with surgery reserved for refractory cases.^1,2 While chemoradiation is frequently curative, little is known about the long-term quality of life (QoL) following treatment.^1,2 The effect is potentially similar to rectal cancer patients treated with chemoradiation, but rectal cancer patients generally undergo extirpative surgery, limiting comparison. Few studies have assessed QoL after treatment for anal cancer; most have combined anal and rectal cancer patients, and none has used a disease-specific measure. In 2018, Sodergren et al. published the EORTC-QLQ-ANL-27 questionnaire, the first specific to anal cancer, which is currently undergoing final phase validation studies.¹ This study aims to evaluate the QoL in patients treated with chemoradiation for anal cancer, using a disease-specific measure. …