ABSTRACT
An investigation concerning "attitudes" was conducted during the second term 1986 on behalf of the National French Association of training in H.G. It enabled to study with 486 patients suffering from recto-haemorrhage the means and costs of the different examinations performed by the participating gastroenterologists. The profit of each behaviour was taken into account, including the total number of acts and hospitalization (N:120, DMS:4.15 days) the advantage lies in total colonoscopy for finding out polyps. It is not so clear in the diagnosis of malignant tumors. Direct relationship is established between invested sums of money (acts + hospitalization) and the number of discovered polyps and to as lesser extent the number of cancers. This calculated study entrances the value of colonoscopy as the examination to be carried out in front of any recto-haemorrhage; it puts forward the different attitudes of specialists, individual as well as in the various means used; it gives a rather precise idea of the cost of finding out polyps. Eventually this attempt of evaluation allowed to appreciate the limits and difficulties of the method in use: those who accepted to say what they do must be thanked.
