Quality indicators for colonoscopy procedures: a prospective multicentre method for endoscopy units.

Background And Aims: Healthcare professionals are required to conduct quality control of endoscopy procedures, and yet there is no standardised method for assessing quality. The topic of the present study was to validate the applicability of the procedure in daily practice, giving physicians the ability to define areas for continuous quality improvement.

Methods: In ten endoscopy units in France, 200 patients per centre undergoing colonoscopy were enrolled in the study.

[Simplified defecography technique. Description and results].

Defecography is a useful paraclinical examination to explore disturbances of continence or defecation. The purpose of this study was to present a simplified defecography technique and assess its validity in subjects without defecation problems (n = 10) and in patients complaining of idiopathic chronic constipation (n = 35). The anorectal angle at rest (RAA) and when straining at stool was not significantly different in constipated patients and in controls.