Utility of single and double balloon endoscopy in patients with difficult colonoscopy: A randomized controlled trial

Table 1 Baseline of characteristics of the study patients n (%)

	SBC group (n = 11)	DBC group (n = 10)	P value
Male/female	7/4	6/4	0.991
Age (yr)	71.7 ± 8.0	71.5 ± 7.8	0.942
BMI (kg/m2)	22.3 ± 4.4	22.6 ± 3.3	0.872
Past history of abdominal surgery	4 (36)	2 (20)	0.641

¹Fisher’s exact test;

²Student’s t-test. All variables are means ± SD. SBC: Single-balloon colonoscopy; DBC: Double-balloon colonoscopy; BMI: Body mass index.

Table 2 Cecal intubation rate and endoscopy-related outcomes of balloon colonoscopy

	SBC group (n = 11)	DBC group (n = 10)	P value
Successful cecal intubation, n (%)	10 (91)	10 (100)	0.991
Cecal intubation time3 (min) [median (range)]	18.0 (10-85)	12.8 (9.5-42)	0.172
Total X-ray fluoroscopic time (min) [median (range)]	3 (1-7)	1 (1-5)	0.122
Pain score4 [median (range)]	5 (1-10)	5 (1-6)	0.642

¹Fisher’s exact test;

²Mann-Whitney U-test;

³The cecal intubation time was compared for cases with successful cecal intubation;

⁴After balloon endoscopy, the patients were asked to evaluate the pain during the procedure on a 10-point analog scale (1 = no pain, 10 = worst imaginable pain). SBC: Single-balloon colonoscopy; DBC: Double-balloon colonoscopy.

Table 3 Comparison of the diagnostic yields of single-balloon colonoscopy and double-balloon colonoscopy n (%)

	SBC group (n = 11)	DBC group (n = 10)	P value1
Advanced cancer	1 (9)	0 (0)	0.99
Colon polyp	5 (45)	3 (30)	0.66
Diverticulosis	3 (27)	4 (40)	0.66

¹Fisher’s exact test. SBC: Single-balloon colonoscopy; DBC: Double-balloon colonoscopy.