Inflammatory bowel disease and colorectal cancer: What is new?

Colorectal cancer is a prevalent and dreaded disease, particularly in the young patient population with chronic Inflammatory bowel disease. It is not surprising that this area of colorectal cancer in colitis patients is under intensive research, and new insights and approaches are continuously being added, with major advances made in recent years. Better understanding of the molecular mechanisms enables the development of new methods for diagnosing neoplastic changes (specifically dysplasia), and the significance of finding dysplasia is repeatedly evaluated. Surveillance protocols are improved based on new technologies (chromoendoscopy and confocal endomicroscopy). Chemoprevention studies add new preparations or strengthen the rationale of using old preparations for the treatment of Inflammatory bowel disease patients.