Water Infusion for Colonoscopy Without Sedation

Water infusion has been shown to decrease pain in unsedated or lightly sedated patients undergoing colonoscopy, and, in some studies, it accelerated cecal intubation and improved tolerability. Now, investigators have conducted two randomized, controlled trials to further evaluate this procedure.

In the first study, researchers randomized 82 U.S. veterans to receive water infusion or standard air insufflation during unsedated colonoscopy. The water-infusion group had a higher cecal intubation rate than the air-insufflation group (98% vs. 78%; P=0.006), a greater willingness to repeat the procedure (93% vs. 78%; P=0.018), lower maximum discomfort scores (mean, 3.6 vs. 5.5 on a scale of 0 to 10), and less need for abdominal compression (57% vs.…