The double contrast examination in inflammatory large bowel disease. A prospective clinical, radiographic, and...

In a prospective clinical series of 2371 consecutive patients referred for double contrast examination (DCE) of the large bowel, 154 had clinical and/or radiographic signs of inflammatory disease. The patients were followed up from May 1976 until May 1981. At the time of interpretation of the roentgenograms, the radiologist was unaware of clinical and laboratory findings. In 31 patients, organ specimens were studied histologically and in 101 other multiple endoscopic biopsies were available. Basing on the clinical observations and the pathology reports, the accuracy of the DCE was calculated at 99%; the predictive value of a positive DCE at 92, and that of a negative DCE at 99%.