The absence of a relationship between cholecystectomy and the subsequent occurrence of cancer of the proximal colon.
Reports of an increased incidence of right-sided colonic cancers have coincided with an expanding knowledge of the carcinogenic potential of secondary bile acids which are increased after cholecystectomy, suggesting a possible relationship between cholecystectomy and the subsequent occurrence of proximal colonic cancer. The hospital records of 582 patients undergoing resection of colorectal cancers were reviewed. Fifty-four patients (9 per cent) had had prior cholecystectomies. The distribution of colonic cancers in these patients was identical to that in noncholecystectomized patients. To obtain a prospective view, 249 patients undergoing cholecystectomy between 1958 and 1960 were followed up to 1980. A cancer of the sigmoid colon or rectum occurred in four patients, three to 22 years after cholecystectomy. No patient was readmitted with a carcinoma of the proximal colon. These data fail to support a relationship between cholecystectomy and the subsequent development of a cancer of the cecum or ascending colon.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002430:Cecal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology; D002763:Cholecystectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012004:Rectal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012811:Sigmoid Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology