Background: Colonoscopy is the "gold standard" procedure in diagnosis and management of lower gastrointestinal problems. All reports have shown that this procedure is safe and useful diagnostic tool in children of all age groups.
Objectives: We aimed of this retrospective study is to find out the prevalence of different colonic diseases in children. Also, this work will highlight the usefulness of colonoscopy in the recognition of diseases of the colon in children in our community and identify some of the problems associated with the performance of this procedure in our department.
Patients and Methods: A retrospective study conducted during the period from January 2016 to December 2017 to analyze the colonoscopic findings of patients presented with lower gastrointestinal manifestations to the Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit of Al-Hussein University Hospital. It included 40 cases, 20 were males (50%) and 50 females (50%). Their ages ranges from 1 year to 15 years with a mean age of 5.65±2.8 SD years.
Results: Bleeding per rectum was the commonest presentation representing (80%) of cases, followed by abdominal pain 10%, weight loss was 5.0 %, chronic diarrhea was 2.5%. Biopsy was taken in 34 cases (85%) and histopathological findings were juvenile rectal polyp in 17 cases (42%), nonspecific colitis in 15 cases (37.5%), ulcerative colitis in 7 cases (4.7%), diffuse colitis in 1 case (2.5%), esinophilic colitis in 2 cases (5%), normal in 5 cases (12.5%).
Conclusion: Colonic diseases are not uncommon in our part of the world. Colonoscopy is a rewarding procedure in those patients referred with lower gastrointestinal manifestations