Multicenter prospective cohort study of management of non-metastatic anal cancer in elderly patients

The standard of care for non-metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the anus (SCCA) is chemoradiotherapy. Data about elderly patients are scarce. The French multicenter prospective FFCD-ANABASE cohort consisted of 1015 patients, among 202 were aged 75 years or older. Among the elderly, the proportion of women (p=0.015) and frailer patients (p<0.001) was higher and the proportion of smokers (p<0.001) and HIV-infected patients (p<0.001) was lower than in the non-elderly group. There were no significant differences between the two age groups for 3-years overall survival, recurrence-free survival, and colostomy-free survival. There were also no significant differences between the age groups for toxicity. In multivariate analyses among the elderly, performance status ≥ 2 and locally-advanced tumors were associated with worse outcomes. The authors conclude that the study showed that among non-metastatic SCCA patients, age did not impact outcomes. Optimal curative treatment should be offered to elderly patients.