Abstract
Although a recent colonoscope has been improved, patients still suffer from much discomfort during the examination. For lessening patients' discomfort, several improvements of the scope has been designed. During the last 5 months, 120 cases were examined by means of three types of colonoscope, CF-H, CF-M and CF-S (CF-H; devised to have a hard insertion tube, CF-M; semi-hard tube, CF-S; soft tube). A successful insertion rate with CF-H and CF-M into the ileocecal area was 100% and 98% with CF-S. The mean time to insert into the ileocecal area with CF-H was 12.6 minutes, 11.7 minutes with CF-M, and 14.6 minutes with CF-S. However, the mean time to insert from the splenic flexure to the ileocecal area with CF-H was much more shorte-ned than with CF-M and CF-S. Discomfort of the patients during colonoscopy with CF-M were much lessened than the examination with CF-H and CF-S. Therefore, CF-M is better for the insertion to the splenic flexure and CF-H is better for the insertion from the splenic flexure to the ileocecal area. It is emphasized that as a desirable colonoscope, the stiffness of the tube is changeable during the examination.
