>Objectives: To evaluate the use of colonoscopy in patients aged at least 85 years. Does the ideal of an ageism free service apply? >Design: A retrospective audit. >Setting: Department of gastroenterology that carries out about 1000 colonoscopies annually in a district general hospital serving a population of about 320 000. >Subjects: All patients aged at least 85 years who underwent colonoscopy over five years to 2003. >Main outcome measures: The indications for colonoscopy and its findings. The outcome of patients found to have colonic cancers. >Results: Colonoscopy was completed in 219 cases (69%). The main reasons for failure were poor bowel preparation and severe diverticular disease. Normal findings occurred in 65 (30%) of the 219 cases that had had a complete examination. Colonoscopy identified a problem that explained the patient's symptoms in 116 (37%) cases. Polyps were found in 45 (14.2%) cases and malignancy in 28 (8.8%). >Conclusions: The absence of significant complications and comparatively high yield of colonic malignancies and polyps reinforces the value of colonoscopy as a diagnostic tool even after 85 years of age and despite the technical challenges of the procedure in this age group that limited completion. Increasing age alone should not preclude a patient from colonoscopy.
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