Anal cancer

[Merna]

Risk factors for anal cancer include certain sexually transmitted diseases.
Bleeding with bowel movements, pain, and sometimes itching around the anus are typical symptoms.
A manual examination, sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy, and a biopsy are done to verify the diagnosis.
Treatment may involve either surgery alone or a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy or radiation therapy and surgery.

Anal cancer develops in the skin cells of the immediate area around the anus or in the lining of the transitional zone between the anus and the rectum (the anal canal). Unlike in the rectum and the large intestine, in which cancers are almost always adenocarcinomas, cancers of the anus are primarily squamous cell carcinomas.
Anal cancer occurs in about 8,580 people in the United States each year and causes more than 1,160 deaths. Anal cancer is more common among women.
Risk factors for anal cancer include the following:

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection (genital warts)
Receptive anal intercourse
Chronic fistulas
Received radiation therapy on anal skin
Leukoplakia
Lymphogranuloma venereum infection
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection
Smoking