Healing of endoscopic biopsy sites in the human rectum

The time required in man for a rectal ulcer created with endoscopic biopsy forceps to heal is unknown. To answer this question, we created a large ulcer (approximately 8 mm in diameter) and a smaller ulcer (approximately 4 mm in diameter) in four healthy young men and followed the healing of the ulcers by visual examination every 4 days. Complete healing of the large ulcer had not occurred on days 4 and 8, while by day 12, three had healed and by day 16, all four had disappeared. Of the small ulcers, two had healed by day 8, and all had healed by day 12. This study suggests that it takes approximately 8-12 days for an artificially created rectal lesion to heal completely.