What influence does the therapy have on life expectancy?
The therapy of ulcerative colitis significantly influences the disease activity. Without treatment, colitis is in most cases much more aggressive than with treatment. Drug therapy can even achieve remission in a certain proportion of patients, i.e. the disease comes to a complete stop.
However, the disease can break out again at any time. Drug therapy therefore has a decisive influence on the risk of complications in ulcerative colitis. With an adequate therapy, complications such as toxic megacolon or intestinal bleeding occur significantly less frequently.
The risk of colon cancer also depends to a certain extent on the disease activity. However, even with a well treated colitis, there is still a certain risk of complications, so that every patient with colitis, even those with very well medicated colitis, must be regularly seen by a specialist. Colorectal cancer screening examinations must be carried out regularly even in patients who are optimally medicated after a certain period of illness. In principle, drug therapy has a positive effect on the life expectancy and above all the quality of life of the patients.
What influence does the degeneration risk have on life expectancy?
The risk of developing colorectal cancer (colon cancer) is increased in patients with ulcerative colitis compared to the normal population. The risk of developing colorectal cancer increases exponentially with the duration of the disease. The longer the disease lasts, the higher the risk of developing colon cancer.
According to current studies, the risk is about 2% after 10 years of illness, about 8% after 20 years and about 18% after 30 years. This illustrates the large and important role of colorectal cancer screening (screening colonoscopy) in patients with ulcerative colitis. In Germany, colorectal cancer screening is recommended for healthy patients from the age of 55 and is covered by health insurance companies.
In patients with ulcerative colitis, preventive examinations must be started much earlier and performed more frequently. If a degeneration in the area of the intestinal mucosa is detected early by a colonoscopy, the chances of treatment are very good and life expectancy is hardly affected. If the regular preventive colonoscopies are not taken, there is an above-average risk that intestinal cancer will only be diagnosed at an advanced stage.
Then the chances of treatment are worse. Colon cancer in advanced stages can have a significant impact on life expectancy.
All articles in this series:
