The Participants Evaluation of Screening Colonoscopy

Abstract

Introduction. The awareness of the need to carry out screening programs for the early colorectal cancer detection increases in the Polish society. Colonoscopy is a common tool used in these programs.

Theaim of this paper is to present the participants' evaluation of the screening program for the early colorectal cancer detection with the use of screening colonoscopy.

Material and methods. 1442 participants aged 40-65 were examined. A day before colonoscopy the patient took a cleansing agent based on polyethylene glycol (Fortrans). Most examinations were performed under an anaesthetic with the use of midazolam, which was administered orally a quarter before the examination. The degree of the large intestine cleansing was assessed using the 4-degree scale (very good, good, sufficient and poor cleansing). A very important issue in every screening examination is the acceptance of the basic examination tool by the participants. Based on this fact, the authors of the program proposed that directly after the examination the patients filled in a questionnaire where they assessed the usefulness of the examination, the burdensomeness of the preparation process, their tolerance of screening colonoscopy, a general feeling regarding the examination and declared if they would took part in that examination once again and if they would recommend it to other people.

Results. The majority of participants think the examination is useful, well-tolerated, while the preparation process is not burdensome, performed in a very positive atmosphere and they would agree to the examination once again.