In its early stages, anal cancer often has no obvious symptoms, but symptoms can include:
- blood or mucus in faeces or on toilet paper
- itching, discomfort or pain around the anus, or a feeling of fullness, discomfort or pain in the rectum
- a lump near the edge, or inside, of the anus
- ulcers around the anus
- difficulty controlling bowel movements
- feeling that the bowel hasn’t emptied completely.
Not everyone with these symptoms has anal cancer. Other conditions, such as piles (haemorrhoids) or tears in the anal canal (anal fissures), can also cause these changes. If the symptoms are ongoing, see your general practitioner (GP) for a check-up.
→ READ MORE: Anal cancer diagnosis
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Glen Guerra, Colorectal Surgeon, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and St Vincents Hospital Melbourne, VIC; Holly Davey, 13 11 20 Consultant, Cancer Council Queensland; Prof Peter Gibbs, Laboratory Head, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, The University of Melbourne, Medical Oncologist, Western Hospital, VIC; A/Prof Ian Faragher, The University of Melbourne, Head of Colorectal and General Surgery Unit, Western Health, VIC; Justin Hargreaves, Medical Oncology Nurse Practitioner, Bendigo Health Cancer Centre, VIC; Prof Richard Hillman, Senior Staff Specialist, HIV and Immunology, St Vincent’s Health Network, Sydney, Conjoint Professor, St Vincent’s Clinical Campus and The Kirby Institute, NSW; A/Prof George Hruby, Radiation Oncologist, Royal North Shore Hospital, Visiting Radiation Oncologist, Genesiscare and Dubbo Base Hospital, NSW; Annie Jacobs, Consumer; Mariad O’Gorman, Clinical Psychologist, Bankstown Cancer Therapy Centre, NSW; Terry Scully, Consumer.
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