PREVALENCE AND HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF COLORECTAL NEOPLASTIC AND NONNEOPLASTIC DISEASES IN AZERBAIJAN

Background and Aims: It is known that many of the colorectal diseases are related to age, gender, race, ethnicity and geographical position of people. There are no studies in the literature on the distribution of colorectal pathologies in Azerbaijan, we evaluated the prevalence and histopathologic features of neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases in 289 colonoscopy examinations performed in this cross-sectional study within 8 years. Materials and Methods: We evaluated the colonoscopies and histopathologic results of our patients according to various indications in Oksigen, Hayat and Azerbaijan Medical University Training and Treatment clinics in Baku between 2009-2017. Results: A total of 289 cases underwent colonoscopy (89 males and 200 females, mean age 43.6±14.0). In 241 patients with lower gastrointestinal system complaints, colonoscopy was normal in 69 (28.6%). 23 patients (9.5%) had diverticulum, 12 had diverticulitis, and 4 patients (1.7%) had inflammatory bowel disease. In 50 patients (20.7%), unspecified colitis, in 4 (1.7%) angiodisplasia, in 4 (1.7%) melanosis and in 52 (21.6%) polyps were placed. Cancers were seen in 9 of the cases (3.7%). Clinical and endoscopic hemorrhoids were found in 86 patients (35.7%), anal fissure in 10 patients (4.1%), hemorrhoid fissure association in 15 patients (6.2%). Macroscopically no pathology was detected in 26 (54.2%) of 48 asymptomatic cases. Unspecified colitis was detected in 2 of the cases (4.2%), polyp in 12 (25.0%) and asymptomatic hemorrhoid in 13 (27%). According to the type of histopathology, 5.5% of the polyps were inflammatory polyps, 30.6% were hyperplastic polyps, 55.6% were tubular adenomas, 5.5% were villous adenomas and 2.8% tubulo-villous adenoma. The tumors we identified as colon cancer were histopathologically adenocarcinoma. 40.0% of the polyps seen in asymptomatic cases were defined as hyperplastic polyps and 60.0% as tubular adenomas. We did not encounter any complications during colonoscopic procedures. Conclusion: There was no correlation between the lower gastrointestinal complaints and the rate of polyps detected in the colonoscopy (odds ratio=0.83, prevalence ratio=0.864). It has been found that there is a very significant reciprocal relationship between complaints and the rate of inflammatory diseases of the colon (odds ratio=10.59)