Background: Identification of colonoscopic features which increase colitis-associated neoplasia risk in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) may allow patient risk stratification. Our objective was to investigate whether colonoscopic features correlate with the risk of developing colitis-associated neoplasia in patients with UC on surveillance.

Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, patients with UC who underwent surveillance colonoscopies from 1998 to 2011 were included. Patients with UC with neoplasia were compared with a matched control group of patients with UC without neoplasia in a 1:3 ratio.

Results: A total of 111 eligible patients with UC with colon neoplasia were compared with 356 patients with UC without colon neoplasia. On univariate analysis, colitis-associated neoplasia was associated with male gender (odds ratio [OR] = 2.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.71-3.89, P ≤ 0.001) and smoking history (OR = 1.62, 95% CI: 1.1-2.39, P = 0.045) but not with colonoscopic features, including tubular colon/shortened colon, scarring, segment of severe inflammation, inflammatory polyps, colonic stricture, or macroscopically normal appearance colonoscopy. In multivariate analysis, only male gender (OR = 2.68, 95% CI: 1.77-4.08, P ≤ 0.001) was found to be associated with an increased risk, whereas the use of 5-aminosalicylates was associated with a decreased risk for colitis-associated neoplasia (OR = 0.51, 95% CI: 0.31-0.84, P = 0.009).

Conclusions: In patients with UC, colonoscopic features especially on standard-definition white-light colonoscopy did not appear to reliably predict the development of colitis-associated neoplasia. This will leave room for image-enhanced endoscopy technology and molecular markers for the early and accurate detection of colitis-associated neoplasia.