Abstract

BACKGROUND: A variety of lesions affect large bowel which include both neoplastic and non- neoplastic pathologies,with some of the inflammatory diseases being premalignant. Due to vague symptoms, the clinical diagnosis is usually delayed. A battery of laboratory tests including biopsy is essential to arrive at a specific diagnosis for appropriate management. AIMS: To study the histopathological spectrum of lesions of colon and rectum on colonoscopic biopsies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The present study was undertaken in the Department of Pathology, Government Medical College, Srinagar over a one year period from October 2015 to October 2016. A total of two hundred and eighty four (284) colorectal biopsies were included in the present study. All tissues were fixed in formalin, stained with H&E and special stains like Periodic Acid Schiff (PAS), Reticulin, Zeihl Neelsen (ZN) along with Immunohistochemistry (IHC) were done as and when required. RESULTS: Out of total 284 cases, 113 were non-neoplastic and 171 were neoplastic. In our study we observed that neoplastic lesions predominated over non-neoplastic lesion. Of 171 neoplastic lesions, 60 were benign and 111 were malignant. Malignant lesions were more in number than the benign lesions in our study. Out of a total of 284 colorectal lesions 180 (63.38%) were present in males and 104 (36.62%) were present in females with male to female ratio being 1.73:1. Non specific colitis was the commonest type seen among non-neoplastic lesions. Tubular adenoma was the most common benign neoplastic lesion and moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma was the commonest malignancy seen. Rectum was the most common site for malignant lesions. CONCLUSION: We observed that neoplastic lesions were more common than non-neop