Managing inflammatory bowel disease in patients receiving cancer-associated chemotherapy and beyond

Managing patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and a current or previous history of cancer is becoming increasingly common. This scoping review aims to provide an up-to-date overview of the available literature on the management of IBD in cancer patients, including those in remission and those undergoing active cancer treatment. This scoping review was conducted, using PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus, to identify studies on IBD management in adult patients with active or prior malignancy, published between January 2019 and July 2024. Search terms included "inflammatory bowel disease" and "malignancy". Thirty-three studies met the criteria for inclusion; most were retrospective cohort studies. Seventeen studies analyzed incident risk of new or recurrent malignancy after starting IBD medications in patients with prior cancer. Most of these studies suggest a limited risk of cancer recurrence after restarting IBD medications. The remaining studies looked at IBD patients receiving active cancer therapy, assessing the risk of IBD relapse and/or the side effects of cancer therapy in IBD patients. Most IBD patients treated with cytotoxic chemotherapy did not experience relapse of IBD activity during therapy. However, those on either hormonal chemotherapies or immune checkpoint inhibitors were more likely to experience IBD relapse, although the data are inconsistent. This review highlights the limited cancer recurrence risk associated with IBD therapies in cancer patients. Individualized, multidisciplinary approaches are essential for managing IBD in patients with a history of cancer. Future research should prioritize large-scale prospective studies to guide IBD and cancer management.