Colitis-Associated Colorectal Cancer in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases in a Tertiary Referral Center: A Propensity Score Matching Analysis

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a risk factor in developing colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CA-CRC). CA-CRC causes the death of about 15% IBD patients and the risk is 1.5-2.4 fold higher among IBD sufferers than in the general population. The dysplasia CA-CRC develops in a different mechanism in comparison to sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC). This study aimed at evaluating the surgical treatment and its outcomes as well as 5-year survival rates in the CA-CRC and sporadic CRC patients. This single-center, retrospective, propensity score-matched case-control study was conducted with 2204 patients operated on due to primary CRC, who were hospitalized from 2003 to 2019. The CA-CRC group consisted of 49 patients with CRC in the course of IBD. The sporadic CRC group was selected with the propensity score matching technique and comprised 98 patients with sporadic CRC who did not have clinical or histopathological features characteristic for IBD. CA-CRC is characterized by a more aggressive clinical course. Surgical treatment of CA-CRC involves more palliative operations and is related with a higher risk of perioperative and postoperative complications. Further studies of CA-CRC risk factor stratification and the development of molecular markers hold promise in reducing CRC in IBD patients in the future were warranted.