Bowel Disease Treatment and Skin Cancer Linked in Study
Like Dennis Rodman and Madonna, it’s a relationship that seems unlikely. But findings from a new U.S. retrospective cohort study indicate that patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), especially those receiving the thiopurine class of medications to treat IBD, may be at risk for developing non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC).
Dr. Millie Long of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and her colleagues investigated if IBD could be associated with a higher risk of non-melanoma skin cancer, and if the risk of that NMSC increased as a result of immunosuppressive and biologic medications.
IBD includes two related but different diseases: ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. These diseases cause chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract, which leads to a variety of symptoms and can also involve organs other than the intestines. IBD is a lifelong disease with periods of active disease alternating with periods of disease control (remission). IBD is sometimes confused with, but is different than irritable bowel syndrome.
According to the American College of Gastroenterology, there are more than one million people with IBD in the United States with new cases diagnosed at a rate of 10 cases per 100,000 people.
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