Anal Cancer Diagnosis

No other center in Georgia treats as many anal cancer cases as we do at Winship Cancer Institute. That means we have more experience in your particular cancer than anywhere else in the state. And when you come to us for care, we’ll start by ensuring you have a thorough and precise anal cancer diagnosis. That’s what we’ll use to create a personalized treatment plan for your cancer.

Winship has a team of radiologists and pathologists dedicated solely to gastrointestinal cancers, meaning we are experts in anal cancer diagnosis and staging. But we don’t stop there. We go further to analyze your cancer on a molecular level to determine exactly what’s driving it — so we can figure out the best way to stop it. Because your anal cancer is unique, your treatment plan should be too.

At Winship, we take a multi-stage approach to ensure that every patient gets a thorough and accurate anal cancer diagnosis. We know you’re anxious to move forward with treatment, but getting a full and precise anal cancer diagnosis is critical to the success of your treatment plan, and it won’t take long, we promise.

Scope procedure. To assess what’s causing your symptoms, your gastroenterologist will likely perform an endoscopy, colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy. These procedures involve inserting a thin probe with a light on the end into the rectum to get a real-time look at the internal structures of the lower digestive system. If your physician locates abnormal tissue during the scope, they may remove it or collect a sample of the tissue to be tested for cancer in a lab (biopsy).

Molecular pathology. If abnormal tissue is determined to be cancerous, our molecular pathologists will conduct testing to determine whether your anal cancer is human papillomavirus (HPV)–positive. Knowing what’s driving your cancer will help your oncologists determine how best to treat it. HPV-positive anal cancers behave differently and sometimes require different therapies than HPV-negative cancers.

Next-gen imaging. At Winship, we use the latest diagnostic imaging technology, including computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine whether anal cancer has spread to the lymph nodes or other parts of the body. And with a team of highly skilled radiologists — doctors who read and interpret imaging tests — who specialize in gastrointestinal cancers, we have the technology and the expertise to make an accurate anal cancer diagnosis and determine the extent of your disease.