Association Between Screen-detected Gallstone Disease and Cancer in a Cohort Study

I read with great interest the report of Shabanzadeh et al.1Shabanzadeh D.M. et al.Gastroenterology. 2017; 152: 1965-1974Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (38) Google Scholar In a cohort study, they found that around 10% of participants had screen-detected gallstone disease, gallstones, and cholecystectomy. Subjects with gallstone disease had a significantly higher frequency of pooled gastrointestinal cancers and right-sided colon cancers than those without gallstone disease. Both chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection2Dai C.Y. et al.Kaohsiung J Med Sci. 2013; 29: 430-435Crossref PubMed Scopus (10) Google Scholar and Helicobacter pylori3Takahashi Y. et al.J Gastroenterol. 2014; 49: 882-889Crossref PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar infection have been associated with a significantly higher frequency of gallstone diseases after adjustment for other confounding factors, when compared with their counterparts. Notably, chronic HCV infection not only leads to hepatocellular carcinoma, but also increases the risk of gastrointestinal cancers. Rustagi et al4Rustagi T. et al.Int J Colorectal Dis. 2014; 29: 75-80Crossref PubMed Scopus (16) Google Scholar observed that subjects with chronic HCV infection had a significantly higher risk of colon adenoma, especially advanced neoplasia than the general population. In a large-scale study, Kim et al5Kim T.J. et al.Helicobacter. 2017; 22Crossref PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar also found that H pylori infection was significantly associated with an increased risk of colorectal adenomas and advanced colorectal neoplasms after carefully controlling for confounding factors. These results indicate that there might exist interplay between chronic viral and bacterial infections and gallstone diseases, as well as colorectal neoplasm. Further investigations are warranted to explore the potential roles of chronic HCV and H pylori infections in the relationship between gallstone diseases and colorectal cancers. Association Between Screen-Detected Gallstone Disease and Cancer in a Cohort StudyGastroenterologyVol. 152Issue 8PreviewKnowledge of temporal associations between screen-detected gallstone disease and specific cancers is limited. The objective of this study was to determine if screen-detected gallstones or cholecystectomy are associated with occurrence of gastrointestinal and nongastrointestinal cancers. Full-Text PDF ReplyGastroenterologyVol. 153Issue 5PreviewWe have explored associations for screen-detected gallstone disease and cancer in a Danish general population cohort and identified associations for gallstone disease and incident gastrointestinal cancer, especially for right-side colon cancer.1 Based on these results, Yu and Maringhini suggest a new hypothesis and alternative explanations. We would like to thank both for their interest in our study and the editor for the possibility to answer. Full-Text PDF