Cholelithiasis and colorectal cancer.

To assess whether the higher risk of colorectal cancer is related to cholelithiasis rather than to cholecystectomy, a retrospective epidemiologic study was carried out on 350 patients operated for colorectal cancer. The incidence of a previous cholecystectomy or concomitant cholelithiasis was shown to be significantly higher in colorectal cancer patients with respect to controls (relative risk: 1.48 and 1.99 respectively). The association in both cases was more frequent for colorectal cancer. These results permit to hypothesize that the association with colorectal cancer does not concern previous cholecystectomy but rather cholelithiasis which is contemporaneously present or responsible for cholecystectomy.