Objective: To investigate the incidence of colorectal lesions in patients who present with oesophageal cancer.
Design: Prospective open study.
Setting: University hospital, Japan.
Subjects: 135 of 218 patients who presented with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus during the seven year period 1988-1994 were randomly allocated to have a barium enema examination.
Interventions: Barium enema examinations, and if colorectal lesions were found, colonoscopy and biopsy.
Main outcome measure: Incidence of coexistent colorectal lesions.
Results: No abnormal findings were found in 52 (39%), diverticula were present on 37 (27%), benign polypoid lesions in 51 (38%), and malignant lesions in 6 (4%). We examined the clinical and histopathological details of all patients to see if it was possible to distinguish the patients at high risk of developing oesophageal and colorectal cancer but could find no differences among the groups.
Conclusion: Asymptomatic colorectal lesions are relatively common in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oesophagus in Japan.