Colonoscopy missed 17 of 286 cancers (5.9 %). The reasons why cancers were missed relate to incomplete colonoscopy, poor bowel preparation, misinterpretation of what was seen, failure to carry out adequate biopsy (and follow-up) of lesions seen, and systems failures related to follow-up investigations in patients who had an incomplete colonoscopy. The fact that colonoscopy and barium enema investigations may fail to diagnose cancers has important medicolegal implications. The recognition that colonoscopy may miss a cancer should encourage doctors to reinvestigate patients when there is a lack of correlation between the clinical and investigative findings.

Dysfunction of the cricopharyngeus is a common cause for dysphagia in the elderly and results in the appearance of the cricopharyngeal bar on a barium swallow radiological examination. However, manometrically normal relaxation of the cricopharyngeus has been observed in patients with a permanent cricopharyngeal bar, which implies that some structural changes may occur in the pharyngoesophageal wall. The aim of this study was to examine the macro-microscopic morphological features in the posterior hypopharyngeal wall of elderly human cadavers. Using dissection, histology, and E12 sheet plastination methods, we examined 31 human cadavers (15 females and 16 males; age 60-97 years with a mean of 77 years). We found that about one-third of the cadavers (29%, 9 out of 31) had an anatomical cricopharyngeal protrusion on the posterior hypopharyngeal wall. The protrusion presented two different appearances: a transverse ridge (2 females and 4 males, age 60-91 years) and a tongue-like fold (1 female and 2 males, age 71-86 years). The existence of the anatomical protrusion in the elderly cadaver suggests that such a structural change may become a physical barrier to affect the normal deglutition in the living elderly and should be carefully considered when interpreting radiological and manometrical examinations and with the management of dysphagia.

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Mucosal plasmacytosis is a benign inflammatory process that may appear to be more sinister on clinical examination. Skin patch testing is a useful adjunct in confirming the diagnosis.

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