Definitive treatment of extensive anorectal carcinoma by external and interstitial irradiation.

Forty-patients with locally extensive carcinoma of the anorectum were treated by a combination of external and interstitial irradiation from April 1, 1974 to January 30, 1979. Twenty-eight patients (70%) achieved complete local tumor control and two more patients with residual tumor were salvaged by surgery. Twenty-four patients remain alive with local control for an average follow up period of three years. The overall complication rate has been 20%.