Q: Dear Dr. Repici, I’m afraid to undergo a colonoscopy. It is painful? Are there any alternative tests that can be done?
A: Colonoscopy is generally not a painful examination but it can still cause some discomfort. The pain may be due to the anatomical shape of the intestine or the presence of secondary adhesions caused by previous surgery. During the examination, it is common for a sedation through a cannula to be inserted into a vein in the arm, in order to relax the patient and enable the examination to be completed. Only in a minority of cases, it may be necessary to perform a more profound sedation to increase patient compliance. In all cases, the patient is checked for vital signs and both medical and paramedical staff strive to make the exam as comfortable as possible. Finally, there are rare cases in which a colonoscopy cannot be performed, mostly due to an altered anatomical configuration of the bowel, in which case the doctor will inform the patient about alternative tests (eg. Virtual colonoscopy, double-contrast barium enema) describing both the advantages and disadvantages in comparison to colonoscopy.
