Digital rectal exam

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Indications

Overview

Risks

Results

Digital rectal exam

Normal Values:

This examination is usually treated as an initial screening examination. It is usually done in conjunction with other tests to rule out abnormalities. If the doctor does not feel any abnormalities, that would be considered a “normal” finding -- but this test does NOT definitively rule out potential problems.

What abnormal results mean:

If a patient is currently bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract, this warrants emergency care, and the patient should be evaluated in the emergency department for a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. If occult blood is revealed but the patient does not appear to be hemorrhaging (actively bleeding), the patients will generally undergo blood tests for anemia, followed by colonoscopy.

If a male patient has an enlarged or nodular prostate, he will undergo a serum test of prostate specific antigen (PSA test), and then possibly prostate ultrasound and biopsy after referral to a urologist.

Review Date: 2/9/2006
Reviewed By: Frederic F. Little, M.D., Department of Allergy and Pulmonary/Critical Care, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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