A group of 1041 patients was studied in an attempt to identify symptoms, signs, or laboratory findings (disease indicators) associated with either a high or low yield of abnormal Ba enemas. A specific search was undertaken for subgroups with 1 or more statistically significant indicators of large bowel disease. If enemas were performed only for statistically significant indicators (fever, positive stool benzidine, rectal or abdominal mass, low hematocrit) or indicators of clinical importance (wt loss, constipation, diarrhea, etc.) only 13% of examinations would be eliminated. However, 10% of patients with gastrointestinal disease would be missed.