Personal history of inflammatory bowel disease
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, is
a condition in which the colon is inflamed over a long period of time. People who have had
IBD for many years often develop dysplasia. Dysplasia is a term used to describe cells in the
lining of the colon or rectum that look abnormal (but not like true cancer cells) when seen
with a microscope. These cells can change into cancer over time.
If you have IBD, your risk of developing colorectal cancer is increased, and you may need to
start being screened for colorectal cancer at an earlier age and be screened on a more frequent
basis (see the section “Can colorectal polyps and cancer be found early?”).
Inflammatory bowel disease is different from irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which does not
increase your risk for colorectal cancer.