Correlation between Clinical Diagnosis and Colonoscopic Findings of Patients Presented with Lower Gastrointestinal...

Lower gastrointestinal bleeding is a frequently encountered problem in general medical practice. This bleeding comes from a site distal to ligament of Treitz. But it may also come from upper gastrointestinal tract when it is massive and pass through the stool. This study was intended to explore the causes of lower gastrointestinal bleeding and correlating them with their colonoscopic findings. This study was cross-sectional prospective. Sample was taken purposively. Out of 200 patients which were selected for the study, 122(61%) were male and 78(39%) were female with a male to female ratio of 5:3. The ages of the patients were ranging from 5 to 80 years with the mean age of 41.9±15.0 years; maximum 38(19%) patients were in 51 to 60 years. All patients were presented with per rectal bleeding & underwent colonoscopy & maximum 57(28.5%) patients were diagnosed as hemorrhoids, followed by colorectal cancer in 55(27.5%) cases. In 10(5%) cases of haemorrhoids 2nd pathology was found associated with it. In 32(16%) cases colonoscopic findings were normal. It was concluded that the most common cause of lower gastrointestinal bleeding was hemorrhoids followed by colorectal cancer. But several cases of colon cancer were misdiagnosed clinically as colitis. So clinical diagnosis should be correlated & confirmed by colonoscopy and biopsy.