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Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
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Tests and diagnosis
By Mayo Clinic staffYour doctor will take a history of your condition, including your sexual history, and conduct a physical exam. The exam may include the following:
- Blood tests. Your doctor may suggest blood tests to check for signs of infection or anemia, if you've lost blood.
- Colonoscopy. This test allows your doctor to view your entire colon using a thin, flexible, lighted tube with an attached camera. During the procedure, your doctor can also take small samples of tissue (biopsy) for laboratory analysis. Sometimes a tissue sample can help confirm a diagnosis. Risks of this procedure include perforation or rupture of the colon wall and bleeding, especially when a biopsy is taken.
- Flexible sigmoidoscopy. In this procedure, your doctor uses a slender, flexible, lighted tube to examine the sigmoid — the last two feet of your colon — including the rectum. Your doctor also can take a biopsy during this test. The test usually takes just a few minutes. It's somewhat uncomfortable, and there's a slight risk of perforating the wall of your colon.
- STD screening. This involves obtaining a sample of discharge from the tube (urethra) that drains urine from your bladder. If the cause of your proctitis is likely to be an STD, your doctor may insert a narrow swab into the end of your penis or anus to obtain the sample, which is then tested for the presence of bacteria or other infectious organisms. The results can be used to select the most effective antibiotic for treatment.
