Colonoscopy is a means of examining the intestinal tract to determine if there are any pathologies in the intestinal tract. At present, colonoscopy is recommended for people over 40 years old to detect colon polyps, diverticula, early colon tumors, etc. Meanwhile, colonoscopy should be performed when there are the following symptoms: abdominal pain, change in the nature of defecation, bloody stools, etc., which need to be performed to make a clear diagnosis.
1. Abdominal pain: when patients have unexplained abdominal pain, colonoscopy can be performed to determine whether there is colitis, intestinal ulcer, ischemic enteropathy and other diseases.
2. Changes in the nature of defecation: mainly including constipation, diarrhea, changes in the shape of stools, difficulty in defecation, at this time, enteroscopy can be performed to determine whether there is colitis, intestinal tumors, Crohn’s disease and so on.
3. Bloody stools: when the stool is mixed with blood, pus and blood or directly discharged bloody stools, enteroscopy should be performed to investigate whether there is lower gastrointestinal bleeding, ulcerative colitis, hemorrhoids, intestinal malignant tumors and other diseases.
Enteroscopy should be performed under the guidance of a clinician, and people over the age of 40 can have a colonoscopy during a physical examination to detect intestinal diseases.