ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics and etiology in infants undergoing colonoscopy in order to improve the understandings of lower gastrointestinal tract diseases and their endoscopic manifestations.Methods The clinical and endoscopic data of the infants aged ≤ 3 years old who underwent conoloscopy at the Department of Gastroenterology,Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University,from July 2010 to December 2014,were retrospectively analyzed.A total of 223 children were included,148 male and 75 female.The age range was from 26 d to 3 years old(＜6 months:41 cases;6-12 months:68 cases;1-3 years old:114 cases).Results A total of 235 colonoscopies were performed under deep sedation by single or double manipulators.Cecal intubation was successful in 192 colonoscopies and terminal ileal intubation was completed in 29 colonoscopies,with a high success rate of 94.0％ (221/235 colonoscopies).The main symptoms included hematochezia (124 cases,55.6％),persistent/chronic diarrhea (55 cases,24.7％),hematochezia with chronic diarrhea(22 cases,9.5％),and others(22 cases,9.5％).Of the 223 patients,clear diagnosis were established for 215 children (96.4％),with food protein-induced proctocolitis (FPIPC) (78/223 cases,35.0％),colonic polyps (50/223 cases,22.4％),colitis (29/223 cases,13.0％),antibiotic associated diarrhea (AAD) (19/223 cases,8.5％),FPIPC with AAD (10/223 cases,4.5％).Conclusions Colonoscopy serves as a very important tool for the accurate diagnosis of lower gastrointestinal diseases with hematochezia and/or chronic diarrhea.FPIPC and colonic polyps are the most common causes for hematochezia and/or chronic diarrhea.AAD may be another important cause of chronic diarrhea and bloody stool in infants.Moreover,ghe application of colonoscopy in combination with histopathology can also play an important role in the diagnosis of some rare diseases,such as intestinal tuberculosis,primary intestinal lymphangiectasia,Behcet's disease and primary immunodeficiency disease.