Japanese Society for Cancer of the Colon and Rectum (JSCCR) Guidelines 2024 for the Clinical Practice of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Associated Intestinal Neoplasia (English Version)

Abstract

The number of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD), continues to increase in many countries and regions. With recent rapid advances in medical therapies targeting intestinal inflammation, the number of patients with long-term disease duration is also increasing. It is well-recognized that longstanding IBD carries an increased risk of developing gastrointestinal (GI) neoplasia, particularly colorectal cancer. However, compared to sporadic GI tumors, IBD-associated GI tumors are relatively rare, and even among specialists in GI diseases, opportunities to encounter such cases remain limited.

In light of this situation, the Japanese Society for Cancer of the Colon and Rectum (JSCCR), in collaboration with the Japanese Inflammatory Bowel Disease Research Group (funded by the Japan Sciences Research Grant for Research on Intractable Diseases affiliated with the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare) launched the Guideline Development Committee for IBD-associated Gastrointestinal Tumors in 2021, with the aim of establishing clinical practice guidelines to support the diagnosis and management of these tumors.

The committee-comprising experts in gastroenterology, surgery, pathology, guideline development, and literature review-conducted extensive discussions and successfully published the first Japanese edition of the guidelines in July 2024. We believe that the current edition provides the best possible guidance based on presently available knowledge. Furthermore, the guideline development process highlighted several key issues to be addressed in future research and clinical practice.

We are pleased to present here the English version of the JSCCR Guidelines 2024 for the Clinical Practice of IBD-associated Intestinal Neoplasia.