Bowel preparation for colonoscopy using standard vs reduced doses of sodium phosphate: A single-blind randomized controlled study

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of a colonoscopy prepa-ration that utilizes a reduced dose of sodium phosphate(NaP) and an adjunct.METHODS: Sixty-two patients requiring screening colonoscopies were studied. Each patient was randomly allocated to receive either 50 NaP tablets(50 g) or 30 NaP tablets(30 g) with 10 mL of 0.75% sodium pico-sulfate for bowel preparation. NaP was administered at a rate of five tablets(5 g) or three tablets(3 g) every 15 min with 200 mL of water, beginning five to six hours before colonoscopy. The sodium picosulfate was administered with 200 mL of water on the night before the procedure. Both groups were compared in term of the efficacies of colonic cleansing, the time required for completion of the bowel preparation, and acceptability of the preparation.RESULTS: Sixty patients(n = 30 for each group) were analyzed. The cleansing efficacy tended to be higher in the 30 g NaP plus sodium picosulfate group as as-sessed by the mean total Ottawa scale score(50 g NaP6.70 ± 1. 42 vs 30 g NaP plus sodium picosulfate 6.17 ± 1.18 P = 0.072). The mean time for bowel prepara-tion tended to be shorter in the 30 g NaP plus sodium picosulfate group(50 g NaP 189.9 ± 64.0 min vs 30 g NaP plus sodium picosulfate 161.8 ± 57.6 min, P = 0.065). There were no significant differences between the two groups in the acceptability of the preparations(50 g NaP 83.3% vs 30 g NaP plus sodium picosulfate 86.7%, P = 0.500). There were no adverse events re-lated to bowel preparation in either of the groups.CONCLUSION: The colonoscopy preparation that uti-lized 30 g NaP with sodium picosulfate was comparable to that utilizing 50 g NaP. This novel bowel preparation might be useful before colonoscopy.