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Squamous cell carcinoma in chronic perianal fistulas

What is the estimated incidence of squamous cell carcinoma arising in chronic perianal fistulae

FactNot yet clinician-reviewed

What is known

  • A systematic review found the incidence rate of SCC related to perianal fistula in [Crohn's disease](https://crohnsology.org (patient sites: crohnz.org)/) was very low (<1%), with poor prognosis. 1
  • Patients with perianal Crohn's disease are reported to have a 0.7% incidence of carcinoma. 1
  • Overall incidence of anal fistula-related cancers (SCC and adenocarcinoma) is reported at 0.3%–0.7%; fistula-associated SCC specifically is described as extremely rare. 2

What is unknown / caveats

  • Most data are single case reports or small series, not incidence cohorts
  • 0.7% figure conflates SCC with adenocarcinoma in some sources
  • Precise SCC-specific incidence is not well established; reported figures are pooled estimates from sparse literature.

References

  1. Kotsafti A, Scarpa M, Angriman I, Castagliuolo I, Caruso A. Fistula-Related Cancer in Crohn's Disease: A Systematic Review. Cancers (Basel). 2021;13(6). PMID: 33809997.
  1. PMID: 41114353. (metadata not in corpus)

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Draft, generated by the IBDology RAG and not yet clinician-reviewed. Answers are grounded in the retrieved literature listed above; a high faithfulness score means the answer matches its sources, not that the sources are correct.

Reviewer notes

answered 2026-08-04 · corpus build 31c2f53f · faithfulness 1.0