A new study led by Ashwin Ananthakrishnan, MD, MBBS, MPH, assistant professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, has demonstrated that early and frequent colonoscopy can be beneficial for inflammatory bowel disease patients, according to a General Surgery News report.
Here are five things to know about the study.
1. The study authors set out to determine whether or not colonoscopy alters the risk of colorectal cancer in IBD patients.
2. The study authors examined data on 6,823 patients. Within 36 months, only 2,764 of the patients had undergone colonoscopy, according to the report.
3. Of those that had undergone a recent colonoscopy, 1.6 percent developed CRC. Of those who had not undergone a recent colonoscopy, 2.7 percent developed CRC.
4. The patients who developed CRC tended to be older, male, have ulcerative colitis or primary sclerosing cholangitis.
5. The study authors noted the lower mortality rate in patients who had a recent colonoscopy compared to the group that did not.