Colonoscopic Profile of Lower Gastrointestinal Bleed in Adults: A Tertiary Care Centre Based Study

Abstract

Lower Gastro intestinal (LGIB) bleeding is one of the most important clinical symptoms which have significant morbidity and mortality. It has an annual admission rate of 0.15% with mortality rate of 5-10%. LGIB can be caused by a number of causes, including both neoplastic and non-neoplastic lesions. Colonoscopy is the gold standard diagnostic measure which is a simple, convenient and cost-effective procedure. The present study aimed to assess the Colonoscopic profile of LGIB presented to our tertiary care centre. This is a cross-sectional observational study conducted in a tertiary health care centre. A total number of 58 adult subjects with LGIB aged above 18 years were recruited over a period of six months after obtaining written informed consent. All included patients underwent detailed history, clinical examination, blood tests and colonoscopic evaluation. Results were analysed. In our study among the 58 subjects (n=33) were males, which were equal to 57%. The majority of our patients were between the mean age of 31-40 years. Most colonoscopic findings were suggestive of ulcerative colitis, which equalled to 31%. Other different aetiologies of LGIB were as following: carcinoma of the colon (15%), haemorrhoids (15%), colonic polyps (14%) carcinoma of anal canal (5%) and so on. The majority of our patients had moderate anaemia, which was equal to 45% and this was due to persistent LGIB. The incidence of lower GI bleeding increased with increasing age among our patients. The leading cause of lower GI bleeding was found to be ulcerative colitis. The prevalence of colon cancer increases with increase in age. It was followed by CA colon, haemorrhoids, and colonic polyps; hence colonoscopy is recommended in all patients with chronic LGIB.