Usefulness and safety of new ultrasmall-diameter colonoscope for cases with difficult insertion: a retrospective study

TL;DR

A new thin colonoscope helps with difficult colonoscopies, reducing insertion time and pain compared to standard scopes.

Contribution

The study demonstrates the effectiveness of an ultrasmall-diameter colonoscope in difficult cases.

Findings

The new colonoscope reduced cecal intubation time by half compared to standard scopes.

It achieved a 100% cecum intubation rate versus 76.9% with standard scopes.

Patients reported significantly less pain with the new colonoscope.

Abstract

Colonoscopies are widely available, but there are cases where insertion can be difficult, even for experienced endoscopists. EC-760XP/L, a new ultrasmall-diameter long scope, may be useful in such cases. This single-center retrospective study included 39 cases where colonoscope insertion was difficult even when previously conducted by an experienced endoscopist. The primary outcome was the cecal intubation time using EC-760XP/L compared to the time used in a previous examination with a standard scope. The secondary outcomes were the cecum intubation rate, intestinal cleanliness level, adenoma detection rate, polyp detection rate, sedative use rate, occurrence of adverse events, and pain experience. A comparison of cecal intubation times between EC-760XP/L and the standard scope showed that insertion times were significantly lower with EC-760XP/L (9.5 min) compared to the standard scope (19 min) (p < 0.01). The standard scope achieved cecal intubation in 30 cases (76.9%), whereas EC-760XP/L reached the cecum in all cases (p < 0.01). Pain was observed in 3 cases (8.3%) with the EC-760XP/L, which was significantly lower than the 22 cases (56.4%) with the standard scope (p < 0.01). In conclusion, EC-760XP/L proved to be useful in cases where colonoscope insertion was difficult.

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