Colorectal carcinoma in patients with ulcerative colitis

Analysis of a 30 year (1950 to 1979) series of colorectal carcinoma disclosed 29 patients with ulcerative colitis, who were compared in this retrospective study with 1,032 noncolitic patients. Colitic tumors were often multiple and had a predilection for the transverse colon. Nineteen patients were resected with the intention of cure, for a curability rate of 66 percent, which is comparable to the 69 percent rate in noncolitic patients. The 5 year survival rate was 31 percent overall and 47 percent in curable cases, rates similar to those in noncolitic patients (34 and 47 percent). All patients with Dukes' A lesions survived 5 years. A high incidence of Dukes' C lesions was observed; one third of these patients survived 5 years . Apart from the advanced stage, no signs of "aggressiveness" or particular virulence were demonstrated in colitic cancer. Results of procedures less than proctocolectomy in 13 patients were dismal: 4 died from cancer within 3 years, and 6 developed late carcinoma in the retained part of the bowel, with a fatal outcome in all.