Abstract
Cancer may be a complication of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or its treatments.
In older Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis patients, the risk of malignancy is
of particular concern. IBD diagnosis at an advanced age is associated with earlier
development of colitis-associated colorectal cancer. Thiopurine use in older IBD patients
is tied to an increased risk of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, nonmelanoma skin cancer, and
urinary tract cancers. Additionally, older age is accompanied by multimorbidity, an
increased risk of malnutrition, and decreased life expectancy, factors that complicate
the management of cancer in the elderly. The optimal approach to the increased risk
of malignancy in older age IBD is appropriate cancer screening and medical treatment.
This may include age-specific colorectal cancer screening and limiting UV radiation
exposure. With a growing number of older IBD patients, further studies are necessary
to delineate the risk of cancer in this population.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 09, 2016
Accepted:
May 3,
2016
Received:
March 15,
2016
Footnotes
☆This work was completed at the University of Arizona in Tucson, AZ.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Editrice Gastroenterologica Italiana S.r.l. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
