Long-term follow-up reveals high incidence of colorectal cancer in Indian patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND

As the magnitude of sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) in India is low, magnitude of CRC in ulcerative colitis (UC) is also considered low. As a result, screening for CRC in UC although advocated may not be followed everywhere. We report our data of UC-related CRC from a low-incidence area of sporadic CRC.

METHODS

A total of 1012 patients with left-sided colitis/pancolitis having more than one full-length colonoscopy performed at least a year after the onset of symptoms were included in retrospective analysis of prospectively maintained case records. In addition, 136 patients with duration of disease >10 years underwent surveillance white-light colonoscopy prospectively during the study period.

RESULTS

A total of 1012 individuals were finally included (6542 person-years of follow-up, 68.5% males, disease duration: 6.4 ± 6.8 years). Twenty (1.97%) patients developed CRC. Two (10%) patients developed CRC during the first decade, 10/20 (50%) during the second and 8/20 (40%) after the second decade of disease. The cumulative risk of developing CRC was 1.5%, 7.2% and 23.6% in the first, second and third decade, respectively. Of 136 high-risk UC cases, five (3.6%) had CRC on screening colonoscopy. Disease duration and increasing age of onset were associated with higher risk of CRC.

CONCLUSIONS

Cumulative risk of CRC in Indian UC patients is as high as 23.6% at 30 years. The risk of CRC increases with increasing age of onset and increasing duration of disease. A low risk of sporadic CRC does not confer a low risk of UC-related CRC, and regular screening is warranted.