Background — Colorectal cancer is an important cause of death in western countries. Screening methods are based on flexible sigmoidoscopy, a cheap, effective, and less painful procedure, but some important lesions on the right colon can be missed. Aim - Evaluate how many important lesions would be missed if colonoscopy indicated only for patients with distal lesions identified during flexible sigmoidoscopy. Material and Methods - All consecutive colonoscopy performed in the Endoscopy Unit of the Gastroenterology Division of Federal University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil, with polyps and cancer suspicious lesions were reviewed. Patients with a second procedure, inflammatory bowel disease or colonic surgery were excluded. Results - We reviewed 101 patients with 38 possible cancer lesions and 70 polyps. The mean age was 62 years (SD 13,7 years) and 45 were male. Forty five lesions were in the right colon, namely 23 adenomas, 10 adenocarcinomas, 1 lymphoma and 11 benign lesion. Among such lesions, 28 were isolated in the right colon (16 adenomas and 7 adenocarcinomas). Conclusion - In our study 23 patients (22,77%) had adenomas or adenocarcinomas isolated in the right colon, that would be missed if flexible sigmoidoscopy was used alone.
Colonoscopy; Sigmoidoscopy; Colonic polyps; Rectal neoplasms
