title: Prevention and early diagnosis of cancer in the rectal stump of ulcerative colitis patients after colectomy and topical treatment.
abstract: Ulcerative colitis with malignant degeneration and dysplasia can be a precancerous lesion. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent or, at least to diagnose as early as possible any development toward neoplasia in the colon or rectum of the colitis patients. The only reliable guide for a risk of malignant tissue degeneration is dysplasia of the mucosa. A group of 31 patients was studied after total colectomy with ileorectal anastomosis and subsequent topical treatment with enemas containing sulphasalazine and corticosteroids. Two of these patients had mild rectal dysplasia before surgery, seen in a biopsy specimen obtained endoscopically. All the patients were followed for a long time after surgery, with endoscopy and microscopic and ultrastructural observation of rectal biopsy material taken from different sites in the mucosa, both from areas that looked dysplastic by endoscopy and from those that appeared normal. The two patients with presurgical dysplasia, when examined later, one 12 months and one 18 months after surgery, had no rectal dysplasia; the mucosal covering was moderately complete and the anastomosis was functioning. It is considered that to prevent development of cancer in the rectal stump, colectomy should always be followed by regular topical treatment and there should be a check-up at short intervals for early diagnosis of any premalignant areas that might develop. Regression of such lesion was observed to lesser degrees after continuous treatment with the topical medication.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001623:Betamethasone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D004733:Enema; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011351:Proctoscopy; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012007:Rectum / Q000473:pathology; D012460:Sulfasalazine / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D012460:Sulfasalazine; D001623:Betamethasone