[The long-term follow-up study of Japanese patients with ulcerative colitis]

To elucidate the long-term outcome of the ulcerative colitis we analyzed 124 patients suffering for more than 10 years concerning the long-term prognosis, cumulative rate of colectomy, cumulative risk of cancer development and cumulative survival rate. Long-term prognosis were divided to three categories as good, fair and poor, according to present disease activities, social availability and subjective judgement. One hundred and twenty four patients were divided to 66 patients with good prognosis, 27 fair and 31 poor (2:1:1). The rate of patients having active disease at each year were followed-up annually for 10 years according to final three categories of the prognosis. The serial curve of annual rate of having active disease of the patients with poor prognosis was the highest, fair prognosis the second, good prognosis the lowest. The factors affecting the final prognosis were the period before initiation of proper treatment, the severity of the first attack or the elder age (> 40 year old) at the first attack. Twenty six patients were undergone colectomy in relation to ulcerative colitis. The cumulative colectomy rate was 16.5% at 10 years and 38.5% at 15 years after the onset. Malignant disease or severe dysplasia of the colon developed in 4 patients 10 to 14 years after the onset. Cumulative survival rate was equal to the expected survival curve during 16 years. The main causes of death were intracranial hemorrhage and colorectal malignant disease.