Abstract
Air bubbles may interfere the observation during an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Simethicone is commonly used preendoscopically to overcome this problem. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of simethicone in upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and to find the most cost-effective dosage. Two hundred patients were enrolled for this stady. All patients were randomized into 10 groups to receive water or various dosage of simethicone (50 mg to 200 mg). Scores for bubbles and hazziness were evaluated in the esophagus, stomach and duodenum (or jejunum for those who had previous subtotal gastrectomy). There was a significant difference between the simethicone group (group 3, 4, 5, 8 and 9) and the control group (group 1 and 7) (P＜0.05, one-way ANOVA). Although the lowest score was noted in group 4 (100 mg simethicone in 10 ml water), there was no significant difference among various dosage of simethicone (50 to 200 mg in 10 ml or 30 ml water). However, 25 mg simethicone in 10 ml water, or 50 mg simethicone in 2.5 ml solution did not improve the hazard caused by the bubbles. The results of this study showed that simethicone was effective to improve the observation of the upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. The most cost-effective dosage for the simethicone was 50 mg in 10 ml or 30 ml of water.
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