Screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is recommended by all scientific societies. However, there are differences in the recommendations they make regarding screening and surveillance. We address a series of questions that come up in the daily clinical practice of a physician. The first two questions that are raised are: (1) Who should be offered screening for CRC? and (2) When should the first colonoscopy be performed? The next step is to decide who should undergo endoscopic surveillance and at what intervals they should be performed. Chromoendoscopy is emerging as the recommended endoscopic technique for screening and surveillance. The terminology for describing lesions detected with endoscopy is also changing. The management of visible lesions or non-visible dysplasia is also a motive for the review. We end the review by addressing the follow-up for endoscopically resected lesions. These questions often cannot be answered easily due to the varying degrees of evidence available; therefore, we have made some general recommendations based on those made by the various guidelines and consensuses. The first screening colonoscopy should be offered 8 years after a IBD diagnosis and we recommend that patients be stratified according to the individual risk for each for endoscopic surveillance intervals.
Keywords: Chromoendoscopy; Colitis screening; Colitis surveillance; Colorectal cancer; Inflammatory bowel disease.