Does having diverticular disease (DD) increase the risk of colon cancer (CC)? One expert would say “yes” and another would answer “no”. Much depends on the design of studies, choice of patients, what data is fed into the computer for statistical analysis, interpretation of the results and what opinions and conclusions are made.
Research can be based on the occurrence of the two separate diseases, how many people with DD have CC and how many people with CC have DD (1). Comparison can be made with the levels of CC and DD which would be expected in the general population. Information can be expanded by including different types of cancerous lesions and their position in the colon. The diagnosis of DD is not so stable. Diverticulitis but not diverticulosis was indicated to be in a long-term causal relationship with increased risk of left-sided CC (2). However, these conditions at diagnosis can change. Diverticulitis can revert to diverticulosis with few further problems, or, diverticulosis can later progress to diverticulitis or even further to serious complications. This is a basic problem in DD research. (more…)