Iatrogenic tattoo

An iatrogenic tattoo is a marking placed a physician or surgeon. It is typically done in the context of a lesion - such that the lesion can be easily re-identified at a later time.

General

• Iatrogenic tattoos are commonly seen in the context of polypectomy scars. Unfortunately, endoscopists are not good at documenting them; a study from 2021 found 67% of the time the location of the tattoo is not documented.
• In the colon, tattoos are most often distal to the feature of interest.

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Negative colon with tattoo and possible scar

The colonoscopy report notes that an iatrogenic tattoo was placed distal to the lesion. The possible scar corresponds to the location of concern.</pref>

See also
*Polypectomy scar.
*Tattoo.

References