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The Human Papillomavirus HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection STI in the world and is an identifiable source of 93 of anal carcinomas and 90 of anal condylomata acuminata The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation 2017 Due to the asymptomatic nature of the virus the prevalence rate of HPV is difficult to determine However a 50 to 80 lifetime exposure and infection rate worldwide has been reported Hathaway 2012 Within the United States alone 80 million individuals are infected with HPV with an estimated 14 million newly diagnosed HPV infections annually The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation 2017 Research has indicated that much like cervical carcinoma there is a strong association between anal carcinoma and HPV Crawshaw et al 2015 Based on the United States cancer registries from 2008 2010 Saraiya et al 2015 indicated an estimated 1 916 HPV associated anal carcinomas in males Anal intraepithelial neoplasia AIN an HPV related dysplastic change in the cells of the anal canal is a known precursor to anal carcinomas and may be classified as low grade AIN I or high grade AIN II and AIN III dysplasia based on its ability to produce neoplastic transformation Crawshaw et al 2015 Dietrich et al 2015 Low grade AIN is associated with anal condylomata acuminata and therefore is not considered a direct precursor to anal carcinoma
