Kommalapati A, Tella SH, Yadav S, et al. - Given the rarity of squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the rectum, the current knowledge on the natural history is primarily derived from case series. The prognostic factors and overall survival (OS) outcomes of rectal SCC listed to National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) between 2004 to 2015 were determined. Researchers used Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank test to conduct OS analysis. The OS outcomes between rectal and anal SCC were compared via propensity-matched analysis. They assessed 3,405 cases in this analysis; of these, 67% were female. At diagnosis, the median age was 61 years. Multivariate analysis revealed better OS in stage I-III disease in independent correlation with age < 60 years, female gender, and receipt of chemoradiation with or without surgery. Better OS in stage IV disease was observed in correlation with administration of chemoradiation. Propensity matched analysis comparing outcomes to anal SCC, they observed inferior OS of rectal SCC (79 months) vs anal SCC (113 months), no such difference in OS was seen in the cohorts that underwent surgery plus postsurgical chemoradiation. Findings thus suggest a better median OS in patients with stages I-III in correlation with chemoradiation alone or in combination with surgery.