Patients Are Up and At ’Em More Quickly with Fentanyl

Endoscopists traditionally use a benzodiazepine and an opioid to sedate patients before colonoscopy, and they are about equally split between the use of meperidine and fentanyl for this purpose. Few studies have compared the efficacy and recovery time of the two sedation regimens. Now, in a double-blind, randomized trial, 287 consecutive adult colonoscopy outpatients received midazolam plus either meperidine or fentanyl for light sedation in a single London hospital.

Patients in one group received meperidine (50 mg; 25 mg if they weighed <50 kg, were older than 70, or had significant comorbidities) or fentanyl (1 μg/kg; maximum of 100 μg). Both groups received midazolam (0.05 mg/kg; maximum of 2 mg if patients were older than 70 or had signi…