ABSTRACT
The indications for colonoscopy can be divided into diagnostic, screening, surveillance, and therapeutic. In diagnostic cases, the most common indication is to investigate symptoms suggestive of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). These include failure to thrive or weight loss, chronic diarrhea, anemia, bleeding, passage of mucous per rectum, or when there is radiologic abnormality (e.g. narrowed terminal ileal abnormality on ultrasound, small bowel follow-through or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). The second most common is to look for rectal/ colonic polyps in children presenting with rectal bleeding.
