Provocative red blood cell scintiscan in occult chronic gastrointestinal hemorrhage.

A patient with a chronic occult gastrointestinal bleeding site is described. Because an extensive examination failed to locate the site of bleeding, a heparin infusion was used in conjunction with a conventional Tc-99m labeled red cell bleeding study. A mid-jejunal ulcer was safely localized before elective surgery.

Rightward shift of colon cancer. A feature of the aging gut.

Two hundred twenty-two patients with colon cancer, diagnosed in the past 5 years, were grouped by age into the sixth, seventh, and eighth decades. Examination showed an increased incidence of right-sided colon cancer by decade and a simultaneous fall in the incidence of rectosigmoid lesions. A trend toward a more favorable Dukes' pattern was evident with each rise in decade.