Colorectal cancer (CRC) develops from a dysplastic precursor lesion, regardless of whether
it arises sporadically, in the setting of high-risk hereditary conditions, or in the context of
chronic inflammation like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In most clinical settings, the
dysplastic lesion is an adenomatous polyp. In IBD, however, dysplasia can be polypoid or
flat. In fact, the rather unusual macroscopic appearance and biologic behavior of dysplasia
in IBD have stimulated a good deal of research into the natural history and molecular …