Impact of advancing age on treatment and outcomes in anal cancer.
BACKGROUND
Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA) may cause significant toxicity, and concerns exist about its tolerability in the elderly. The authors compared tolerability and outcomes across the age groups following CRT for SCCA.


METHODS
Single-institution retrospective analysis of patients with localized SCCA treated with CRT. CRT was standardized at 50.4-54 Gy, with concurrent infusional 5-fluorouracil and mitomycin C. Patients were arbitrarily categorized into three groups: Group 1 - age < 50 years; Group 2 - age ≥ 50 and < 70 years; and Group 3 - age ≥ 70 years.


RESULTS
Of 284 patients identified, 278 were evaluable. The number of patients in each age group was: Group 1 - 51; Group 2 - 140; and Group 3 - 93. Baseline and treatment characteristics, tumor stage, rates of overall acute toxicity, need for unplanned treatment breaks and chemotherapy delivery were largely similar across the age groups. However, nine patients in Group 3 did not complete CRT, compared with five and none in Groups 1 and 2, respectively (p = 0.006). In addition, five patients in Group 3 had diarrhea requiring treatment break, compared with none in the other two groups (p = 0.004). At a median follow-up 5.3 years, there was no significant difference in overall survival (p = 0.11), disease-free survival (p = 0.22) or local-recurrence free survival (p = 0.34), across the three age groups.


CONCLUSIONS
CRT is safe and tolerable in the elderly age group, and provides equivalent disease control rates compared with the younger age group. Age alone should therefore not preclude aggressive curative treatment.
Division of Radiation Oncology and Cancer Imaging, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre , Melbourne, Victoria , Australia.
Marcus
M
Foo
Emma
E
Link
Trevor
T
Leong
Julie
J
Chu
Mark T
MT
Lee
Sarat
S
Chander
Phillip K
PK
Tran
Jonathan M
JM
Tomaszewski
Michael
M
Michael
Alexander
A
Heriot
Samuel Y
SY
Ngan
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001005:Anus Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D005472:Fluorouracil / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016685:Mitomycin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D016685:Mitomycin; D005472:Fluorouracil