Historical Perspectives: Malignancy in Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis

While both Crohn' disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC) are known to predispose patients to certain intestinal malignancies, the exact mechanism of carcinogenesis remains unknown and optimal screening guidelines have not been established. This article will explore the history of our understanding of intestinal malignancy in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). To contextualize the medical community's difficulty in linking each condition to cancer, the first section will review the discovery of CD and UC. Next, we discuss early attempts to define IBD's relationship with small bowel adenocarcinoma and colorectal cancer. The article concludes with a review of each disease's surgical history and the ways in which certain procedures produced poor oncologic outcomes.