Colonoscopy is a nightmare for many patients. This is due to insufficient information. Colonoscopy is an examination of the entire large intestine and the end of the small intestine with an instrument just like an endoscopy. Colonoscopy is a painful procedure. The reason for this pain is the pressure applied to some intestinal points by the air and the tool given to the intestine to be seen better during the procedure. Interestingly, our stomach and intestines do not feel cuts, touches, tears. Therefore, when a biopsy is taken from the stomach or intestine, the patient does not feel it. However, these organs are very sensitive to movements such as stretching and swelling. Inflating with air causes severe pain.
Colonoscopy should be done with propofol today. Colonoscopy can be done with a sleeping pill, which we call sedation, but for this, the patient must be compatible and the drug must be effective enough. It should be noted that sleeping pills do not cause complete loss of consciousness and do not have pain-relieving properties. For this reason, while it gives good results in some patients, it is not effective enough in some patients and causes them to feel pain. For this reason, my preference for getting the best results is “propofol” anesthesia. With this anesthesia, the patient does not hear the procedure completely.
Colonoscopy is a proven method especially in the diagnosis of early colon cancer and recommended in medical guidelines. Every person should have a colonoscopy at least once after the age of 45-50. The formations we call polyps, which are caught during colonoscopy, can rarely turn into cancer. It is possible to completely prevent cancer by removing these polyps during colonoscopy. Again, the points to be considered here are as follows:
1. Experience of the physician performing the colonoscopy: In the studies, the rate of polyp detection is higher in experienced physicians. Moreover, the entire colon should be carefully examined for at least 7 minutes while it is exiting during colonoscopy. If your doctor does not pay enough attention to this issue, he may miss the polyps.
2. Bowel cleansing before colonoscopy: Before colonoscopy, a pulp-free diet should be applied for a few days and an effective bowel cleansing protocol should be applied the night before. Colonoscopy performed in an insufficiently clean bowel cannot be perfect. For this reason, there should be a doctor, nurse or officer who takes enough time to explain this issue to you. Cleanliness is one of the first conditions for colonoscopy success.
3. Colonoscopy device: Everything we explained above for endoscopy devices also applies to colonoscopy devices. There have been important developments in the world regarding these devices. In advanced technology devices; Functions such as HD monitor, FICE, NBI changing the wavelength of light, painting methods and magnification have been added.
