Objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) complicating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) accounts for 10-15% of all IBD deaths. Survival of patients with IBD-related CRC was reviewed to analyse differences between ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD).

Methods: We analysed (24 men and 10 women) patients with CD (n = 14) or UC (n = 20) with CRC, who presented between 1990 and 2007, and were followed to October, 2009.

Results: The mean age of patients was 56 ± 12 years for patients with UC and 49 ± 17 years for patients with CD, and the mean duration of symptoms was 22 ± 11 and 16 ± 8 years, respectively. The median duration of follow up after the diagnosis of CRC was 49 (1-157) months. Recurrence occurred in five patients with UC and in nine with CD (P = 0.02). The overall and disease free five year survivals were significantly higher in patients with UC than CD [70%vs 43% (P = 0.01) and 63%vs 31% (P = 0.01), respectively].

Conclusions: The results showed a poorer prognosis of CRC in patients with CD than with UC.