ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE:

A good colon cleansing is necessary to perform an adequate and full colonoscopy. Some colonic lesions can be overlooked with an inadequate bowel preperation and reprepation causes an increased cost and time. Th e aim of this study is to compare the effi cacy, side eff ects and patients’ tolerability of sodium phosphate and sennoside solutions in precolonoscopic colon cleansing.

METHODS:

Sixty patients were included in the study. Th e patients were consecutively randomised into two groups. All patients received liquid diet for two days before the examination. In the fi rst group, the patients received 90 ml NaP (45 ml + 45 ml), and in the second groups patients received 500 ml sennoside (250 ml + 250 ml) at the day prior to colonoscopy. Before colonoscopy, patients were questioned about the complaints and were also asked if they woued prefer the same solutions or not, if repreperation is needed. At the end of each colonoscopy, another colonoscopist blindly scored cleansing according to the scoring system (1 excellent -4 bad). Results compared with student-t test.

RESULTS:

The male/female ratio in group 1 was 17/13 and the median age was 56 years, while the male/female ratio was16/14 and the median age was 59 years in group 2. Abdominal pain, vomiting and nausea were seen at three patients in sennoside group. No side eff ects were seen at NaP group. Twenty-two patients (73%) from group 1, twelve patients (40%) from group 2 responded that they could use the same solution for bowel preperation if recolonoscopy is needed. The median cleansing grade for the first group was 1.47 0.63 and it was 1.61 0.76 for the second group (p=0.417).

CONCLUSION:

Both oral solutions after two days liquid diet proved to be equally eff ective and safe. However, patient tolerance of NaP demonstrated a clear advantage over sennoside.