ENDOSCOPIC TATTOOING OF THE COLON - CLINICAL-EXPERIENCE

Nonpalpable lesions of the colon can be difficult to locate intraopera tively. We have demonstrated in an experimental study in dogs that the colon can be endoscopically 'tattooed' by injecting dye through a fle xible needle into the wall of the colon. At laparotomy, the resulting ''tattoo'' is then visible on the serosal surface of the bowel. This t echnique allows precise surgical localization of endoscopically identi fied lesions simply by visualizing the dye. Our initial clinical exper ience tattooing 15 colonic lesions in 12 patients is presented. In all patients, the endoscopically injected dye (1 per cent indocyanine gre en) was easily visualized on the serosal surface of the colon at surge ry. The dye remained at the site of injection for at least 36 hours al lowing tattooing to be performed the day before surgery. No significan t complications were encountered with only one patient developing an i nflammatory reaction at the site of injection. This experience demonst rates the clinical utility of endoscopic tattooing of the colon to per mit accurate intraoperative localization of small or nonpalpable lesio ns.