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The role of colonoscopy in the assessment of patients with colorectal cancer

  • Published:
Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

An Erratum to this article was published on 01 September 1986

Abstract

A retrospective review of 176 patients with adenocarcinoma of the colon who underwent total colonoscopy preoperatively demonstrated synchronous carcinomas in 3.4 percent and synchronous polyps in 55.1 percent. Full-column barium enemas (68 patients) failed to identify cancer in 22 percent of patients and synchronous polyps in 58 percent of patients, a statistically significant (P<0.001) number of falsenegative examinations. Double-contrast barium enemas (30 patients) failed to identify cancer in 27 percent of patients and synchronous polyps in 42 percent of patients, also a statistically significant (P<0.007) number of false-negative examinations. Full column and air contrast barium enemas identified all index cancers with distant metastases. Air-contrast barium enemas failed to identify 40 percent of “early” index cancers (confined to the bowel wall, negative nodes), and full-column barium enemas failed to identify 32 percent. The incidence of synchronous carcinoma and polyps underscores the need for total colon evaluation when a primary carcinoma is detected. Because of the poor accuracy of barium studies, total colonoscopy is the method of choice for this evaluation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

    Alan G. Thorson M.D.

  2. University of Nebraska Medical Center, 711 Professional Tower, 105 South 17th Street, 68102, Omaha, Nebraska

    Mark A. Christensen M.D. & Steven J. Davis M.D.

Authors
  1. Alan G. Thorson M.D.
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  2. Mark A. Christensen M.D.
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  3. Steven J. Davis M.D.
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Additional information

Read at the meeting of the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, San Diego, California, May 5 to 10, 1985.

An erratum to this article is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02554259.

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Thorson, A.G., Christensen, M.A. & Davis, S.J. The role of colonoscopy in the assessment of patients with colorectal cancer. Dis Colon Rectum 29, 306–311 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02554117

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02554117

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