Clinical indications of patients with colorectal neoplasm who underwent colonoscopy at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital (presentations of colorectal neoplasm from colonoscopy database).

Even though colorectal cancer in Thailand is not the number one leading cause of death, the incidence of this malignancy is not ignorable. Unfortunately, the majority of patients are diagnosed at a very late stage because of no screening protocol for a high risk group. The authors retrospectively reviewed clinical presentations of patients with colorectal neoplasm who underwent colonoscopy at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital during the two-year period from September 2000 to December 2002. There were 107 patients with colorectal polyps and 48 patients with colorectal cancer. According to frequency of indications: anemia, bowel habit change, and abnormal radiography were presented in patients with colorectal polyps and cancers. There were more right sided colorectal polyps than rectosigmoid polyps. In addition, rectosigmoid cancer was detected less often than right sided colonic cancer. Half of the patients with rectosigmoid cancer presented with hematochezia compared to right sided colonic cancer. Total colonic examination is required if a colonic neoplasm is suspected.