Endoscopic Tattoo Practice at a District General Hospital

Introduction Without placing an endoscopic tattoo it may be difficult to accurately relocate the site of pathology after removal (eg, polypectomy). The National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (BCSP) have published guidelines on tattoo practice for suspected malignant polyps.1 2 We aimed to test the null hypothesis: there is no difference in tattoo practice between BCSP and non-BCSP lower GI endoscopy. Methods All reports for lower GI endoscopy performed at our unit over a 3 year period were reviewed. All polyps greater than 10 mm in diameter were identified. Lesions identified clinically and reported as a carcinoma were excluded. Colonoscopies were grouped by indication; either BCSP or non-BCSP. Information was gathered on polypectomy practice, tattoo practice, polyp size and the incidence of a histological diagnosis of polyp cancer. Statistical analysis was performed using χ2 with Yates correction. Results A total of 11 679 endoscopy reports were reviewed. A polyp >10 mm in diameter was identified n 556 procedures, 145 in the BCSP (21.9%) and 411 in the non-BCSP (3.7%)(p