A recent study published by the Journal of Clinical Oncology suggests carboplatin-paclitaxel as a standard of care for anal cancer. According to the study, inoperable anal cancer, when treated with carboplatin-paclitaxel, showed fewer complications compared to the ones treated with other chemotherapies.

Inoperable anal cancer is a rare disease that accounts for around 3% of all gastrointestinal malignancies. As part of the InterAAct trial, carboplatin-paclitaxel was compared with cisplatin plus 5-flourouracil (5FU).

The InterAAct trial recognizes carboplatin-paclitaxel as an optimal chemotherapy regimen in the first-line setting for treating inoperable anal cancer, said Dr. Cathy Eng, MD, lead US investigator, along with David H Johnson, Co-Leader, Gastrointestinal Cancer Research Program, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and Chair in Surgical and Medical Oncology, Vanderbilt University.

According to Dr. Cathy, carboplatin-paclitaxel indicates improved patient survival and is associated with less toxicity. The trial suggests that the drug may become the standard of care for treating patients with anal cancer and become a backbone for forthcoming phase three trials.

Sources claim that overall survival for candidates enrolled in the carboplatin-paclitaxel arm of the clinical trial was 20 months in comparison to 12.3 months in the cisplatin-5FU arm. Carboplatin-paclitaxel demonstrated less adverse effects (36%) when compared with cisplatin-5FU (62%).

The study included 91 candidates from the U.S., Germany, Australia, Norway and the UK between 2013 to 2017. The International Rare Cancers Initiative was led by Anal Cancer Working Group to design and commence trials with a vision to provide metastatic anal cancer patients with novel treatment strategies.

Patients with inoperable anal cancer have a 5 year survival rate, approximately about 30%. In 2011, Paclitaxel was documented as a viable treatment for advanced anal cancer and was later merged with carboplatin. Response rates of 69% led some clinicians to consider the drug as a first-line treatment, however, cisplatin-5FU regimen has managed to gain recognition worldwide. 

Source Credit: https://www.aninews.in/news/science/study-reveals-better-option-for-treatment-of-inoperable-anal-cancer20200628174959/