



Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), especially those with ulcerative colitis, may be at a higher risk of developing thyroid cancer. Use of immunosupressant drugs was also found to possibly contribute to an increased risk for this cancer, according to researchers. Their study, “Assessment of thyroid cancer risk in more than 334,000 patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a case-control study and a meta-analysis,” was published in the World Journal of Surgical Oncology. IBD is considered a precancerous disease of colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer or colon cancer, and characterized by the growth of tumor cells in the colon or rectum (parts of the large intestine). Researchers have previously found an increased risk of different types of cancer in IBD patients, including lung, skin, bladder and blood (leukemia). Located in the front of the neck below the Adam’s apple, the thyroid gland is an important regulator of our body’s metabolism by producing several hormones involved in the digestion, heart function and growth processes, among others. Deregulation of thyroid function is linked to numerous diseases and conditions, including auto-immune diseases, cognitive disability, and some types of cancer. While some studies reported a higher risk of thyroid cancer in IBD patients, other failed to do so. Lihong Cao, a researcher at Tianjin Medical University General Hospital in Tianjin, China, and his team analyzed the prevalence of thyroid cancer in IBD patients using two methods: a case-control study, where 1,392 IBD patients (1,022 with ulcerative colitis and 370 with Crohn’s disease) were compared with 1,392 controls (diagnosed with diverticulitis, an infection of the colon wall), admitted to the hospital between 1991 and