[Value of molluscum pendulum in the diagnosis of colorectal neoplastic lesions].

A routine search for skin tags was made before performing colonoscopy in 220 patients, whose mean age was 61.8 years. Sixty-one p. 100 of patients were male. The reasons for colonoscopy were digestive symptoms (95 cases), past history of malignant disease of the colon (MDC) or rectum (67 cases) or other symptoms (58 cases). Eighty-five patients had one or more skin tags, while 78 patients had one or more MDC. MDC in patients with skin tags was more frequent than in patients without skin tags (43.5 p. 100 vs. 30.4 p. 100 respectively, p less than 0.05). However this relationship was age-dependent. No significant relationship was found between the discovery of skin tags and the number of MDC, the carcinomatous nature of the lesion or not, or its degree of dysplasia. In 153 patients without personal history of MDC there was no significant relationship between the existence of skin tags and the discovery of colorectal lesions at colonoscopy. In this series of 220 patients, the sensitivity and specificity of skin tags associated with MDC on colonoscopy was poor (0.47 and 0.66 respectively).