Patients with cystic fibrosis (CF) are at higher-than-average risk of developing gastrointestinal cancers, especially those who underwent a lung transplant, a new study shows.

Transplant patients with CF were found in this retrospective study to have a five-times greater risk of gastrointestinal cancer than those who have not had a transplant, the researchers found, emphasizing a need for careful screening for small intestine and colon cancers particularly, but also for biliary tract and pancreatic cancers.

The study, “Risk of gastrointestinal cancers in patients with cystic fibrosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis,” was published in the journal The Lancet Oncology.