Randomised clinical study comparing the effectiveness and physiological effects of hypertonic and isotonic polyethylene glycol solutions for bowel cleansing.

Objectives: Bowel cleansing is necessary before colonoscopy, but is a burden to patients because of the long cleansing time and large dose volume. A low-volume (2 L) hypertonic polyethylene glycol-ascorbic acid solution (PEG-Asc) has been introduced, but its possible dehydration effects have not been quantitatively studied. We compared the efficacy and safety including the dehydration risk between hypertonic PEG-Asc and isotonic PEG regimens. Design: This was an observer-blinded randomised study. Participants (n=310) were allocated to receive 1 of 3 regimens on the day of colonoscopy: PEG-Asc (1.5 L) and water (0.75 L) dosed with 1 split (PEG-Asc-S) or 4 splits (PEG-Asc-M), or PEG-electrolyte solution (PEG-ES; 2.25 L) dosed with no split. Dehydration was analysed by measuring haematocrit (Ht). Results: The cleansing time using the hypertonic PEG-Asc-S (3.33 +/- 0.48 hours) was significantly longer than that with isotonic PEG-ES (3.05 +/- 0.56 hours; p<0.001). PEG-Asc-M (3.00 +/- 0.53 hours) did not have this same disadvantage. Successful cleansing was achieved in more than 94% of participants using each of the 3 regimens. The percentage changes in Ht from baseline (before dosing) to the end of dosing with PEG-Asc-S (3.53 +/- 3.32%) and PEG-Asc-M (4.11 +/- 3.07%) were significantly greater than that with PEG-ES (1.31 +/- 3.01%). Conclusions: These 3 lower volume regimens were efficacious and had no serious adverse effects. Even patients cleansed with isotonic PEG-ES showed significant physiological dehydration at the end of dosing. The four-split PEG-Asc-M regimen is recommended because of its shorter cleansing time without causing serious nausea.