Cancer in inflammatory bowel disease.
There is convincing evidence that patients with ulcerative colitis carry a higher risk of developing colorectal cancer than the general population. This risk is as high as 19-fold that in the general population. The results of the Birmingham study (Gut 1988, 29, 206-217) suggest that extensive colitis patients have a genetic predisposition for colorectal cancer and that long-standing inflammation is not of primary importance in the initiation/promotion of cancer in this disease. Population-based studies, although difficult to carry out, should be the epidemiologic method of choice for determining the risk of cancer in future studies.
Gyde
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North Birmingham Health Authority, Good Hope Hospital, Birmingham, U.K.
D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D004739:England / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D012307:Risk Factors