Colonoscopy in a community hospital.

Colonoscopy is a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic tool. In the present series, 12 polyps, a villous adenoma, and three new cases of ulcerative colitis were found in symptomatic patients with negative barium enemas. Surgical intervention was avoided in two patients suspected of having carcinoma. This study proves the safety and the value of colonoscopy to the community hospital surgeon. It also affords a better means of evaluating the patient with inflammatory disease, and avoids the genetic effects of repeated x-rays.