Relationship of Chronic Anorectal Disease to Carcinoma

An abundance of articles has been published concerning the clinical and pathologic aspects of epidermoid carcinoma of the anorectal canal. An occasional article refers to the possible role of benign anorectal disease in the etiology of this lesion. Cattell and Williams⁷ discussed this possibility but reported a history of antecedent benign disease in only 1 of their 10 cases. Buie and Brust⁶ found a history of local disease in 34 of 51 patients. Bensaude and associates,³ Rosser,^12-14 Keyes,¹¹ Kerr,¹⁰ Gabriel,⁸ Bacon and associates,² and Grodsky⁹ have mentioned the possibility but have not presented convincing evidence to support an association between previous benign disease and epidermoid carcinoma of the anus or rectum.

The more frequent reference to the possibility of such an association in earlier than in later articles suggests that this possibility and its clinical implications are not widely appreciated today.