Bacteremia Following Proctoscopic Biopsy of a Rectal Polyp

Abstract

Bacteremia following genitourinary tract instrumentation and surgery,^1-5 dental extraction,^6-8 and cardiac catherization⁹ is well documented. We wish to report a case of bacteremia following proctoscopic biopsy of a rectal polyp, for to our knowledge this occurrence has not been recorded before. Patient Summary A 77-year-old alcoholic man was admitted to the Veterans Administration West Side Hospital on July 2, 1969, with a history of burning abdominal pain of one month's duration. During the week prior to admission, he passed black stools admixed with blood. A similar episode of abdominal pain and melena occurred in 1961. At that time a diagnosis of alcoholic cirrhosis was made, but no source of bleeding was detected. On physical examination he was pale and weak, but not jaundiced. His pulse rate was 80 beats per minute; blood pressure, 140/80 mm Hg; and oral temperature, 99.6 F (37.5 C). The abdomen was soft and