Factors affecting cecal and ileal intubation time in colonoscopy.

Background And Purpose: The time required for a colonoscopy must be justified under economic aspects. The objective of this study was to analyze patient- and staff-related factors influencing the time for cecal and ileal intubation.

Patients And Methods: A prospective study was performed on 500 consecutive patients undergoing colonoscopy in 2005. The authors analyzed patient age, gender, height, weight, surgical history, the presence of liver cirrhosis and splenomegaly, the number of children given birth, the presence of colorectal cancer and inflammatory bowel disease, the quality of bowel preparation, sedation, and the experience of the attending colonoscopist, the nurse and the team as factors of possible relevance to cecal and ileal intubation time.

Results: The cecum was reached in 495/500 examinations (99%). Intubation of terminal ileum was possible in 477/500 patients (96%). Mean cecal and ileal intubation times were 10.5+/-10.2 min and 6.4+/-7.9 min, respectively. Time to cecal intubation was related to the experience of the endoscopist (p=0.009), the nurse (p=0.04) and the whole team (p=0.002), as well as to an adequate cleaning of the bowel (p=0.01).

Conclusion: A short intubation time requires experienced staff in combination with an adequate cleaning of the bowel without reference to biological or pathologic factors except for colon-shortening surgery. The gain in examination quality by inspecting the terminal ileum comes to the cost of a prolongation of insertion time of 25-30% in experienced hands.