Objective:

This study compares the incidence of abdominal pain and distension, the magnitude of pain, abdominal perimeter, and related complications related to two different insufflating agents.

Patients and Method:

Prospective analytical cohort study. Data were collected from 43 performances of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCPs) and 20 colonoscopies in which patients were insufflated with CO2. A control examination using ambient air for insufflation was performed for each patient. In total, 86 ERCPs and 40 colonoscopies were performed. The study includes clinical characterizations, bivariate analysis and multivariate analysis.

Results:

The most painful procedure was colonoscopy, but 60% of colonoscopy patients and 70% of ERCP patients had no pain 15 minutes after waking up following their examinations. No statistically significant differences related to reasons for examination, presence or intensity of pain at the time of the procedure, age, sex or diagnosis were found. The relative risk (RR) of immediate pain is 4.8 times higher when insufflation is done with air instead of CO2 (RR = 4.8; 95% CI: 2.3 to 9.2; p <0.001). The risk of abdominal distension in the air group was 2.6 times higher than that of the group insufflated with CO2 (RR = 2.6; 95% CI: 1.8 to 3.9; p <0.001). CO2 reduces the likelihood and extent of abdominal distension and immediate post colonoscopy or ERCP pain. There were no complications in any of the 126 patients.

Conclusions:

Abdominal pain and bloating occur less frequently and less intensely when CO2 is used as an insufflating agent. None of the procedures presented major complications.

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