Significance of patient-controlled sedation during colonoscopy. Results from a prospective randomized controlled study.

Background: In France, general anesthesia is given to more than 90% of patients undergoing colonoscopy although in several countries sedation is limited to intolerant patients. This study was carried out to determine whether Patient-Controlled Sedation (PCS) could provide a lighter sedation than general anesthesia adapted to the patient's individual requirement.

Methods: Patients aged from 18 to 80 scheduled for elective colonoscopy were prospectively randomized to receive either standard sedation (control group) or patient-controlled-sedation (PCS).

Rectal instillation of butyrate provides a novel clinically relevant model of noninflammatory colonic hypersensitivity in rats.

Background & Aims: The treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), characterized by abdominal pain and bloating, is empirical and often poorly efficient. Research lacks suitable models for studying the pathophysiologic mechanisms of the colonic hypersensitivity and new pharmacologic targets. The present study aimed to develop a novel model of colonic hypersensitivity possessing several of the characteristics encountered in patients with IBS.