Efficacy of Total Colonoscopy with a Transparent Cap

Lee, Moon Sung; Shim, Chan Sup; Kim, Young Tae; Hong, Su Jin; Kim, Jin Oh; Cho, Joo Young; Lee, Joon Seong

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: There were two blind spots during colonoscopy, one was on angulated portion of colon, other was on non-fixated portion of colon. In spite of careful inspection during routine colonoscopy, small lesions behind the semilunar folds can be situated in blind spots, where they are easily overlooked. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of total colonoscopy with transparent cap in identifying such lesions, in comparison with colonoscopy without the cap. METHODS: We performed colonoscopy with or without transparent cap in 30 patients and 30 controls. During colonoscopy, frequencies of ileal intubation, time required for intubation as far as the terminal ileum and degrees of patients discomfort were checked.
RESULTS
Colonoscopy with a transparent cap ensured good visual fields during insertion and withdrawal of the colonoscopy. There were no significant differences in the intubation times to the terminal ileum or in the frequencies of terminal ileal intubation, degree of patients discomfort between the two procedures.
CONCLUSIONS
Total Colonoscopy with a transparent cap allows inspection of the blind area of the colonic mucosa behind the semilunar folds, with good visual fields. But the statistical significance was not found in this study. This method may be potentially useful for both screening and diagnostic purposes. Further study in more cases would be needed.