A one year study of colonoscopy for rectal bleeding in Maltese patients

Abstract

The causes of overt rectal bleeding and of hypochromic microcytic anaemia or occult bleeding in the stools were evaluated in a one year retrospective study of 94 patients investigated by colonoscopy during 1986. The positivity rates for the two groups were 85.2% and 39.4% respectively. 24.5% of the total number of patients had neoplastic mass lesions in the colon, half of which were in the right or transverse colon, and one third of which were adenocarcinomas. Colonoscopy provided diagnosis of non-neoplastic lesions in a further 57.4 % of patients, and therapeutic polypectomy, electrocautery or hot biopsy excision in 24.5% of patients. 14.9% of patients were found to have inflammatory bowel disease. These data illustrate: first, the utility of colonoscopy in the diagnosis and treatment of overt and occult rectal bleeding in Maltese patients; and second, the importance of investigating patients in a secondary referral centre for important lesions such as adenocarcinomas, adenomatous polyps and inflammatory bowel disease.