Colitis carcinoma in ulcerative colitis.

During the period from 1963 till 1981 altogether 342 patients suffering from ulcerative colitis were treated. In their material authors found 6 patients (1.7%) who achieved cancer of the colon beginning 7, 9, 14, 18, 18 und 21 years after the onset of ulcerative colitis symptoms. According to the clinical data their ulcerative colitis could be considered to belong to the severe or the moderate type. From the anatomical point of view the extension of the process exceeded the sigmoid colon in all but one. Respecting the clinical course of the disease, malignant transformation took place in 3 patients of the relapsing-remitting type, in 2 instances the clinical course could not be classified, the sixth case proved to the chronic continuous type. Colonic tissue was gained and diagnosis stated with traditional methods within 4 instances, while in 2 it was gained from tissue specimens passing through the stool. In 3 cases the tumour was multiple. From the morphological point of view the features had a plaque form in 2 cases, a polypous nature in other 2 cases, while among each one patient a fibrous stricture and ordinary colorectal cancer occurred. The tumour was identified as well differentiated and poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma in identically 3 instances. All the patients underwent an operation, only one of them is still alive. In sake of detecting colitis carcinoma earlier, they suggest yearly endoscopic and biopsy survey of ulcerative colitis patients.