[Peroral cleansing for coloscopy--a possibility of establishing ambulatory coloscopy service]

A controlled trial was carried out to investigate whether precoloscopy purging can be satisfactorily done on an out-patient basis. One hundred and ninety-nine patients were randomized to purgation as either in-patients or out-patients. The purgative method used was oral intake of a polyethyleneglycol solution. The two patient groups were compared with respect to quality of purgation, side-effects and patient satisfaction. The same quality of purgation and the same frequency of side-effects were seen in both inpatient and out-patient groups. The patients preferred the out-patient procedure. There were variations with respect to sex and age. It is concluded that the purgative procedure described is satisfactory for out-patient use, which thus enables some coloscopy activities to be carried out on an out-patient basis.