Surveillance of patients with ulcerative colitis

Abstract

Along with Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis occupies one of the leading places among the most dangerous and severe diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. Persons aged 20–40, belonging to the most active and efficient group of the population, are most susceptible to this pathology. All over the world, there is a steady trend towards an increase in the incidence of ulcerative colitis, and the complexity and high cost of treatment to some extent transfer this problem from a number of purely medical to the category of socio-economic issues. The maximum mortality rates are recorded during the first year of the disease due to cases of extremely severe fulminant course of the disease, as well as 10 years after its onset due to the high probability of developing colorectal cancer. The first report on the surgical treatment of ulcerative colitis in Russia belongs to V. A. Oppel, who in 1907, at the meeting of the Society of Russian Physicians, made a report on the topic: «On the issue of surgical treatment of chronic ulcerative colitis». Since then, surgical intervention continues to be one of the most effective methods of treating this disease.