The risk for cancer or dysplasia in ulcerative colitis patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis.
OBJECTIVE
Recent studies have implicated primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) as a risk factor for colorectal cancer (CRC) in ulcerative colitis (UC). Our study was designed to define both the risk and the risk factors for CRC or dysplasia in a large UC cohort with PSC.


METHODS
Patients with UC and PSC were compared with a random sample of UC controls without PSC. Patients were analyzed from the inception of disease until an outcome or censor.


RESULTS
Thirty-three (25%) of 132 UC patients with PSC developed CRC or dysplasia compared with 11 (5.6%) of 196 controls (adjusted relative risk 3.15, 95% confidence interval 1.37-7.27). Possible risk factors were chronic disease activity and lack of folate supplementation. Of 17 CRCs in the PSC group, 76% occurred proximal to the splenic flexure and 35% presented at an advanced stage, compared with one of five (20%) CRCs in controls being proximal and none being advanced. Six (4.5%) PSC patients, and no controls, died of CRC (p < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
UC patients with PSC are at increased risk of developing CRC or dysplasia. Chronically active disease may be a risk factor, whereas folate could have a protective effect. CRCs associated with PSC are more likely to be proximal, to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage, and to be fatal.
Shetty
K
K
Center for Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Department of Gastroenterology, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio 44195, USA.
Rybicki
L
L
Brzezinski
A
A
Carey
W D
WD
Lashner
B A
BA
D000328:Adult; D015209:Cholangitis, Sclerosing / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003082:Colectomy; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000150:complications*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016031:Liver Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D016019:Survival Analysis