Interesting data I read from the Victorian Surgical Consultative Council Outcome analysis published in their recent mailout…complication rates for colonoscopy
Public hospital Same Day is 34 out of 79175 for the 2 years from July 2008 to June 2010
Public hospital Multiple Day is 55 out of 12885…(hence rate here is more like 4.2 out of 1000 or about 1 in 250)
For private hospitals, the risks are much lower
14 out of 220 327 for same day
19 out of 12641 for multiple day.
Many condition can cause rectal bleeding. It is important that you exclude a serious cause first by speaking to your doctor! Risks symptoms for a more serious cause include having clots, blood being mixed with the stools, having lots of bleeding, bleeding frank blood, passage of mucus, increasing age(the older you are the higher your risk of bowel cancer), presence of anaemia and loss of weight
Causes include:
1. Bowel cancer – in particular a rectal cancer or cancer in the sigmoid colon
2. Polyps in the bowel – especially large ones in the rectum
3. Haemorroids – this is quite common but it is important to speak to your doctor about it and be examined throughly to exclude more serious cause
4. Inflammatory bowel disease eg proctitis, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease
5. Anal fissure – usually there is a lot of pain when or after opening the bowels(but be warned : rectal cancer invading into the anal canal can also be painful)
6. Trauma to the perianal tissue
Lifetime risk of developing bowel cancer in Australia by the age of 85 years old:
1 in 10 men
1 in 14 women
Medial age at diagnosis: 70 years old
Risks in next 5 years:
30 year old person – 1 in 7000(less than the risks from a colonoscopy of perforation and serious bleeding)
40 year old person – 1 in 1200
50 year old person – 1 in 300
60 year old person – 1 in 100
70 year old person – 1in 65
80 year old person – 1 in 50
The risk is also greater for people with a family history of bowel cancer