Colonoscopy for unexplained lower gastrointestinal bleeding in a tropical country
Bhargava, D.K.; Rai, R.R.; Dasarathy, S.; Chopra, P.
Tropical Gastroenterology Official Journal of the Digestive Diseases Foundation 16(1): 59-63
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0250-636X PMID: 7645055 Document Number: 445015
Two hundred and forty consecutive patients with recurrent lower gastrointestinal bleeding were studied by colonoscopic examination. These included 187 adults and 53 children. The procedure was successful either in identifying the lesion or in excluding it up to the cecum in 216 (90% patients). The source of bleeding was identified in 138 (74%) adults and 43 (81%) Children. Predominant lesions in adults were nonspecific colitis and ulcers (58%), polyps (19%), cancer (10%), rectal varices (4%) and tuberculosis (3%). Juvenile polyps (77%) and nonspecific colitis and ulcers (23%) were the cause of bleeding in children. Both in adults and children, 92% of these lesions involved the left colon. Rectum and sigmoid colon were mainly involved. Diffuse lesions were seen when nonspecific colitis and ulcers were the source of bleeding. Thus colonoscopic examination was useful in localizing the cause of rectal bleeding and the predominant lesions were different from those reported in the Western hemisphere.