[Localization of colon adenomas in relation to age and sex. A colonoscopy study]

The material consists of 318 colonic adenomas in 162 patients - 78 women and 84 men. Patients with partly colonoscopy, polyposis or additional carcinoma are not involved. Distribution of adenomas is influenced by age, sex, and the number of polyps per patient. With increasing age the number of adenomas increases in the proximal parts of the colon. In contrast the number of polyps decreases in the rectum. This change in distribution is caused by age itself and by a greater number of patients with multiple adenomas, in which the number of polyps in proximal parts of the colon is increased independent of age. Women have significant more frequently solitary polyps than men and the rectum is much less involved. There are two parallels between adenoma-disease and carcinoma-disease of the large intestine: With increasing age the number of colonic carcinomas increases in the proximal parts of the large intestine and the rectum is also less involved in women.