Assessment of Patients' Quality of Sexual Life After Anal Cancer Treatment

Sexual health is defined by WHO in 2011 as a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality. It is an integral part of health, well-being and quality of life and is recognized as a right of everyone.Alteration of sexuality after cancer impacts all phases of the sexual response. It is multifactorial: psychological (ie, anxiety linked to the disease, fear of death, or impairment of body image) and physiological (ie, alteration of the sexual reaction which may be linked, in part, to direct sequelae generated by irradiation of the genitals).

Anal cancer remains fairly rare, affecting around 2,200 people each year in France, with a predominance of women (60 to 70% of patients), However, its incidence has been growing strongly for 30 years, in Europe and the United States where it is has increased by 70% over the last 10 years alone, in both men and women, with an increasingly younger population.

It is linked, in more than 90% of cases, to a carcinogenic virus, the Human PapillomaVirus (HPV), a late consequence of an infection, most often asymptomatic, transmitted by the sexual route.

The question of sexuality after cancer remains, in fact, very little addressed by doctors who express a lack of training. Patients, for their part, often do not dare to raise the issue with caregivers, out of modesty, or thinking that the teams do not have the time. Discussions with patients therefore generally always remain focused on oncological management, from the initial consultation to the follow-up consultations. The hope of recovery awaited on each of the assessments and the fear of relapse often obscure more global and equally essential questions: whether it is about the quality of life, the after-effects, or even more, the quality. of sex life. For these reasons, this study will collect the information provided to patients on the impact of this treatment on their sexual health, whether it is medical information recorded in the file, or information perceived and retained by patients.

Inclusion criteria

• Age> 18 years old.
• Patient treated for non-metastatic squamous cell anus cancer with the presence of an HPV infection authenticated on the biopsy.
• Patient living with a partner or having an active sex life the year preceding the diagnosis.
• Patient who, after information, agrees to participate in the study.
• Patient affiliated to a French social security scheme.

Exclusion criteria

• Patient unable or unwilling to complete a questionnaire on the quality of sexual life.
• Patient without sexual activity the year before diagnosis.
• Patient whose regular follow-up is impossible for psychological, family, social or geographic reasons.
• Patient under guardianship, curatorship or legal protection.