Extent of inflammatory lesions in ulcerative colitis assessed by radiology, colonoscopy, and endoscopic biopsies.

Radiography of the colon with double-contrast technique was performed directly after total colonoscopy with multiple biopsies in 50 patients with ulcerative colitis. In two-thirds of the series the inflammatory lesions were found to be more widespread at colonoscopy than on radiography. Signs of colitis in an even larger part of the bowel were found on examination of the biopsies in half of the cases. The distribution of characteristic inflammatory changes seen at colonoscopy was also studied. The frequency of the lesions was found to be relatively low in the rectum and highest in the descending and sigmoid parts of the colon.