Trends of ulcerative colitis-associated colorectal cancer in  Korea: A KASID study.
OBJECTIVE
The number of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) in Korea has increased. In addition, the number of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) associated with UC has also increased. Therefore, this population-based nationwide study was conducted to investigate the incidence of CRC in patients with UC in Korea and compare these results to those of studies conducted in other countries.


METHODS
The Korean Association for the Study of Intestinal Diseases (KASID) reviewed 7061 cases of UC that occurred between 1970 and 2005 and found a total of 26 cases of CRC.


RESULTS
The overall prevalence of CRC in patients with UC was 0.37%. In addition, the estimated cumulative risk of UC-associated CRCs was 0.7% for patients that had UC for 10 years, 7.9% for patients that had UC for 20 years, and 33.2% for patients that had UC for 30 years. The mean age at the time of diagnosis with CRC was 49.6 years, and the mean duration of UC prior to the development of CRC was 11.5 years. Most UC-associated CRCs were diagnosed after they were already in advanced stages; however, the stage at diagnosis was lower in patients that had good compliance with medical treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
The cumulative incidence of UC-associated CRCs in Korea was found to be comparable to that of western countries. The overall occurrence of UC-associated CRC in Korea may be growing, therefore, intensive surveillance colonoscopy and constructive chemoprevention should be encouraged to enable early detection and treatment of UC-associated CRCs in Korea.
Department of Internal Medicine, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Samsung Medical Center, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
Beom Jin
BJ
Kim
Suk Kyun
SK
Yang
Joo Sung
JS
Kim
Yoon Tae
YT
Jeen
Hwang
H
Choi
Dong Su
DS
Han
Hyo Jong
HJ
Kim
Won Ho
WH
Kim
Jae Yong
JY
Kim
Dong Kyung
DK
Chang
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D044466:Asian People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D003093:Colitis, Ulcerative / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000628:therapy; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult