Value of routine sigmoidoscopic examination.
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Flexible sigmoidoscopy is a procedure that is commonly used by primary care physicians for the evaluation of rectal disorders and for colorectal screening. Retroflexion of the endoscope improves views of the anorectum and rectal vault, which increases the diagnostic yield of sigmoidoscopy. We report three cases of rectal lesions that were not detected when flexible sigmoidoscopy was performed without retroflexion. The lesions were all malignant or premalignant. The illustrative cases demonstrate the value of retroflexion in flexible sigmoidoscopy for the detection of rectal lesions.
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A prospective colonoscopic study of 642 consecutive patients demonstrated that 156 (66%) mass lesions including 131 polyps and 25 cancers were located within 60 cm of the anus and 82 (34%) mass lesions including 68 polyps and 14 cancers were located beyond 60 cm, the working length of the rigid sigmoidoscope. One hundred twenty-one (61%) polyps and 14 (36%) cancers were located above 25 cm but less than 60 cm from the anus, the working length of the flexible sigmoidoscope. Sixty-eight (34%) polyps and 14 (36%) cancers were located beyond the reach of the flexible sigmoidoscope. Although the flexible sigmoidoscope detects more lesions than the rigid sigmoidoscope, 50% of colon cancers located beyond detection by the rigid sigmoidoscope would not have been detected with the flexible sigmoidoscope. Of all mass lesions located beyond 25 cm, 38% would not have been detected with the use of the flexible sigmoidoscope. It appears that total colonoscopy rather than flexible sigmoidoscopy must play an increasingly prominent role in the evaluation of patients with suspected colonic mass lesions.
The purpose of this study was to compare the utility of the 35-cm versus the 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscope in screening asymptomatic patients for colorectal neoplasia. Two hundred fifty-eight patients 45 years of age or older were examined in a randomized fashion with both the 35-cm and 60-cm instruments. Fifteen percent (39/258) of patients had a total of 50 polypoid lesions 3 mm or greater in diameter (including one carcinoma). Of all polypoid lesions, 76% were detected with the 35-cm instrument compared to 98% with the 60-cm sigmoidoscope. Eighty-four percent of all polyps occurred within the distal 35 cm of colon. The mean time required to complete the examination was significantly less with the 35-cm sigmoidoscope than with the 60-cm sigmoidoscope (2.5 vs. 5.7 min). Moderate to severe discomfort was experienced by 69% of patients with the 60-cm instrument compared to only 29% with the 35-cm sigmoidoscope. Seventy-two percent of patients preferred examination with the shorter instrument compared with 7% for the longer sigmoidoscope, while 21% of patients expressed no preference. The 35-cm flexible sigmoidoscope fulfills many criteria of an effective screening test for colorectal neoplasia including rapidity of examination, safety, good sensitivity, and excellent patient acceptance.
Three hundred twenty-six participants of five 1-day continuing medical education courses on flexible sigmoidoscopy were surveyed to determine their use of lower intestinal endoscopes and to identify how well the education trained them to use the flexible sigmoidoscope. The number of participants using a flexible sigmoidoscope and/or colonoscope increased after the course. About one half of the respondents went from no use of the flexible sigmoidoscope to using it. About one fifth of the respondents were not using a flexible sigmoidoscope after the course for various reasons. Most respondents used more than one instrument after the course, with the combination of the 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscope and the rigid sigmoidoscope being most popular. The overwhelming majority found the flexible sigmoidoscope to be either very easy to use or reasonably easy to use. Only one complication was reported. Most of the respondents had attended only this 1-day course, but one third had taken either other courses or had been supervised for several procedures.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between a new activity index and the endoscopic severity assessed by sigmoidoscopy in patients with ulcerative colitis. METHODS: We evaluated the sigmoidoscopic severity and Activity Index (AI) in 37 patients with distal colitis, 23 with left-sided colitis, and 36 with total colitis, in which the severity was divided into three categories: grade 1 = mildly active, grade 2 = moderately active, and grade 3 = severely active. We examined the relationship between the AI or clinical parameters and the endoscopic severity in all 96 cases. RESULTS: The AI was found to be significantly correlated with the degree of sigmoidoscopic activity in all cases, as well as in those with distal colitis, left-sided colitis, or total colitis. When patients with both grade 1 sigmoidoscopic activity and AI values of less than 150 were regarded to have mild colitis and patients with either grade 2 or grade 3 sigmoidoscopic activity and AI values of more than 150 were regarded to have moderate or severe colitis, 10 of 37 (27%) in the distal colitis, one of 23 (4.3%) in the left-sided colitis, and four of 36 (11.1%) in the total colitis groups were thus misclassified regarding the distinction between mild colitis and moderate or severe colitis. Three of four patients with severity of grade 1, indicating AI values of more than 150, had total colitis, whereas the remaining one had left-sided colitis. On the other hand, 10 of 11 patients with severity of grades 2 or 3 with AI values of less than 150 had distal colonic involvement. When the endoscopic activity was equivalent, the highest mean AI values occurred in total colitis whereas the lowest mean AI values were found in distal colitis. CONCLUSIONS: The AI well reflects the sigmoidoscopic activity. High AI values with a low sigmoidoscopic severity are thus considered to reflect extensive involvement, whereas a high sigmoidoscopic severity with low AI values is thought to indicate the involvement of the distal colon.
Patients who had benign polyps and cancers were studied retrospectively to define whether use of the 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscope would markedly improve the diagnostic yield over the 25-cm rigid sigmoidoscope. Of the polyps found, 48% could have been seen by the rigid sigmoidoscope and 85% by the flexible sigmoidoscope. Cancers were within reach of digital examination in 21%, of the rigid sigmoidoscope in 38% and of the flexible sigmoidoscope in 60%. This verifies the greater diagnostic yield by the flexible sigmoidoscope. In 211 asymptomatic patients who underwent flexible fiberoptic sigmoidoscopy, the scope reached to 25 cm in all and to 50 cm in 75%. The average time required for the examination was 4.9 minutes. Of these patients, who had also undergone rigid sigmoidoscopy previously, 76% preferred the flexible scope, 18% preferred the rigid scope and 6% could tell no difference. The yield of neoplasms was 4% in the distal 25 cm of the colon and rectum, but an additional 8% were found in the sigmoid colon. This review supports the need for flexible sigmoidoscopy in the office as a screening tool for detection of polyps and early diagnosis of cancer in the asymptomatic patient over 40 years of age. Technique, costs and complications are discussed.
BACKGROUND: Although the American Cancer Society and others have established guidelines for colorectal cancer screening, questions of who and how to screen still exist. METHODS: A 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscopy was performed on 1000 asymptomatic patients, 45 years of age or older, with negative fecal occult blood tests, who presented for routine physical examinations. Patients with clinically significant lesions were referred for colonoscopy. The proportion of lesions that would not have been found if the 24-cm rigid or the 30-cm flexible sigmoidoscope had been used was identified. RESULTS: Using the 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscope, lesions were found in 3.6% of the patients. Eighty percent of the significant lesions were beyond the reach of the 24-cm rigid sigmoidoscope and 37% were beyond the reach of the 30-cm sigmoidoscope. Thirty-six patients with lesions were referred for colonoscopy; additional lesions were found in 14%. A total of 62 lesions were discovered, including tubular adenomas, villous adenomas, tubular villous adenomas (23 of the adenomas with atypia), and one adenocarcinoma. The highest percentage of lesions discovered were in the sigmoid colon and the second highest percentage were in the ascending colon. CONCLUSIONS: The 60-cm flexible sigmoidoscope was able to detect more lesions than either the 24-cm or 30-cm sigmoidoscope when used in asymptomatic patients, 45 years of age and over, with negative fecal occult blood tests. When significant lesions are discovered by sigmoidoscopy, colonoscopy should be performed.
Six hundred thirty-two patients were referred to the Colorectal Clinic from February 1983 to February 1986 for screening with the Pentax 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope. Forty-nine of these patients (8 percent) had adenomatous polyps. There were 27 males and 22 females. The mean distance examined by the 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope was 55 cm. Five patients were excluded from analysis, leaving 44 patients who underwent colonoscopy to the cecum. At the time of colonoscopy, 15 of the 44 patients (34 percent) had one or more adenomatous polyps beyond reach of the 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope. The remaining 29 patients who underwent colonoscopy had no polyps beyond reach of the 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope. Thirty adenomatous polyps, one invasive carcinoma of the ascending colon, and one hyperplastic polyp were found in these 15 patients. In summary, 34 percent of patients found to have adenomatous polyps within reach of the 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope harbored one or more adenomatous polyps in the proximal colon at the time of colonoscopy. A positive 65 cm flexible sigmoidoscope examination requires colonoscopy to identify and remove proximal premalignant lesions, thereby aborting the polyp-cancer sequence.
BACKGROUND: Not only is rigid sigmoidoscopy uncomfortable for patients, but visualisation of the rectosigmoid junction and sigmoid colon is successful in only 40-70% of examinations. A novel fine-bore rigid videosigmoidoscope is described and then compared with a rigid conventional sigmoidoscope for patient discomfort and length of insertion. METHOD: A total of 58 patients were examined with both sigmoidoscopes in a random order. Discomfort was scored on a visual analogue scale; length of insertion was scored by the surgeon. Patients were blinded to which sigmoidoscope was being used. The images from the video examination were transmitted in real time for a second opinion in a different hospital. RESULTS: The mean (SD) insertion distance of the videosigmoidoscope was 23.2 (5.9) cm, which was significantly further than with the conventional sigmoidosocpe 16.5 (3.8) cm (p < 0.01). The discomfort on a visual analogue score for the videosigmoidoscope was 3.0 (1.8), which was significantly less than for the conventional sigmoidoscope 5.5 (2.7) (p < 0.01). The five users of the equipment (four surgeons and one colorectal nurse practitioner) preferred the videosigmoidoscope for image quality and ease of examination. CONCLUSIONS: A thinner, longer, rigid videosigmoidoscope is a more effective means of looking at the proximal sigmoid colon. Despite being inserted further, it caused less discomfort than the conventional sigmoidoscope. High-quality video images can be recorded or transmitted for real-time teleconsultation.
A new fiberoptic sigmoidoscopic system has been developed that utilizes a disposable sheath to cover and protect all working surfaces of the endoscope from contamination. The reusable part of the endoscope has no air, water, or suction/biopsy channels. These are incorporated in the disposable sheath, which is easily removed after use to provide each patient with a contamination-free endoscope. A prospective, randomized, controlled trial was performed to compare the disposable, sheathed, flexible sigmoidoscope with standard sigmoidoscopes. Clinical evaluations of the new sigmoidoscope system were performed at 15 facilities. Visual analog rating scales were used to record evaluations of endoscope performance and reprocessing by endoscopists and reprocessing personnel. The time to perform procedures, depth of insertion, and total instrument downtime were also recorded. One hundred forty-three procedures (70 standard, 73 sheathed) were performed. No significant difference was found for overall depth of insertion (50 versus 48 cm), although fewer sheathed endoscopes reached to 60 cm than did standard endoscopes (51% versus 30%). The sheathed system had a slightly longer mean procedure time than the standard (5.6 versus 6.7 minutes), but a significantly shortened overall downtime (32.8 vs 8.1 minutes). The standard system was preferred by the endoscopists. Reprocessing personnel preferred the disposable system. The disposable sigmoidoscope system has important advantages of decreased instrument turn-around time and potentially increased staff and patient safety, and future models should be improved to meet physicians' concerns.
BACKGROUND: Rigid sigmoidoscopy using a disposable or nondisposable sigmoidoscope is a common outpatient procedure. It has been assumed that the nondisposable bellows and light head of the sigmoidoscope remain free from enteric organisms so that the procedure is sterile if a disposable or nondisposable (metal) sigmoidoscope shaft is used. The aim of this study was to identify the presence of organisms within the bellows or light head of the sigmoidoscope. METHODS: Of 21 patients undergoing rigid sigmoidoscopy with a disposable instrument, bacterial cultures were taken from the inside of sterile Jackson-Pratt bulbs in 12 patients, with the bulbs being used to simulate the nondisposable insufflation bellows. In an additional nine patients, swabs were taken for culture from the inside of the nondisposable light head. RESULTS: Enteric gram-negative Escherichia coli and mixed anaerobic organisms were cultured from the Jackson-Pratt bulbs in two cases, and gram-positive organisms were cultured in another case. Gram-negative organisms, including Bacillus, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella, and Enterococcus faecalis, were cultured from the inside of the light head in two cases. CONCLUSION: Sigmoidoscopy using a disposable instrument is not a sterile procedure and may pose a risk of patient-to-patient cross-contamination by potentially harboring organisms in the bellows or light head.
The double-contrast barium-enema examination (DC-BE) and endoscopy were compared in 100 patients (126 lesions) to determine the accuracy of each method and assess the efficacy of standard overhead views in detecting rectal and rectosigmoid masses. Seven lesions were missed with DB-BE (accurate rate, 95%) and 20 with endoscopy (accuracy rate, 84%). Lateral and angled rectum views were positive in 74% and 94%, respectively; combining these with supine, prone, and left posterior oblique views, 95% of 121 lesions were detected on at least 2 radiographs. Fifteen of 41 lesions (37%) were missed with the rigid sigmoidoscope, but only 5 of 85 (6%) with the flexible sigmoidoscope. The authors conclude that suspected rectal or rectosigmoid tumors can be diagnosed accurately with only 5 projections, rather than the 11 often employed for the entire colon, and that the flexible sigmoidoscope should be used routinely instead of the rigid sigmoidoscope.