This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Hello, my name is Van Morris. I’m a medical oncology physician at MD Anderson Cancer Center who takes care of patients with lower GI cancers. I’m excited to talk today about updates in anal cancer.
Anal cancer is a rare cancer linked to prior infection with the human papillomavirus (HPV), and it is a cancer that continues to see, year after year, an increase in annual incidence.
Most patients present with localized disease at the time of their initial diagnosis. But we are seeing an increasing number of patients who, when they’re first diagnosed, are presenting with advanced, incurable disease at that time of disease presentation.
For the majority of patients who do present with localized disease, the standard of care remains — and has remained for the past half century now…