Colonoscopy in Romania.
BACKGROUND
To date, colonoscopy is considered the gold standard for the investigation of the colon and also the gold standard method for colorectal cancer screening. AIM of this paper was to assess if and how is Romania prepared to cope with screening of colon cancer by means of colonoscopy.


METHODS
We sent a study-type questionnaire addressed to all the centers in Romania known to perform digestive endoscopy and we inquired about the total number of colonoscopies and flexible sigmoidoscopies performed in 2003 (the questionnaire was sent to 43 centers).


RESULTS
Thirty-eight centers responded to the question-naire. The total number of colonoscopies performed in Romania in 2003, obtained by collecting the data from the study centers, was 22,324. The number of sigmoidoscopies performed during the same period was 12,349. The ratio between the number of colonoscopies and sigmoidoscopies was 1.8/1. There were 106.3 colonoscopies /100,000 inhabitants.


CONCLUSIONS
Considering the population of Romania (about 21 million inhabitants), the number of colonoscopies performed is insufficient for our country. The number of centers performing colonoscopy in Romania is also insufficient.
Sporea
Ioan
I
Department of Gastroenterology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Str. Iosif Bulbuca 156, 300736 Timisoara, Romania. isporea@excite.com
Popescu
Alina
A
Danila
Mirela
M
Sirli
Roxana
R
Salha
Chadi Abou
CA
D003110:Colonic Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003113:Colonoscopy / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006801:Humans; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012383:Romania