[Radiochemotherapy for locally advanced anal cancer]

Standard treatment for anal canal cancer is definitive radiochemotherapy (RCT) with 5-fluorouracil plus mitomycin C. Induction chemotherapy, maintenance chemotherapy and replacing mitomycin C with cisplatin proved not to be feasible in phase III trials. New substances such as capecitabine and oxaliplatin have been tested in phase II trials. Because anal cancer overexpresses the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), and a KRAS wild type is usually present, treatment with the EGFR antibody cetuximab is potentially interesting. Phase I trials have shown that the combination with RCT is practicable; however, phase II trials have not yet been carried out.