Smartphone Tool Helps Gauge Bowel Prep Quality Before Colonoscopy
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An artificial intelligence (AI) tool that runs on a smartphone can help patients scheduled for a colonoscopy evaluate on their own how well they do with bowel cleansing, and may be an alternative approach for evaluating bowel preparation quality before the colonoscopy, especially in the COVID-19 era. The AI tool is a "manpower-saving" option that reduces the need for nurses to evaluate the quality of bowel preparation, say Wei Gong, MD, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China, and colleagues. Having the tool on a patient's smartphone means caregivers and nurses would not be required to assess the adequacy of bowel cleansing for patients, which, in turn, would reduce person-to-person contact and the spread of infectious diseases, they add.
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@premlata The study was conducted at two hospitals in China among consecutive patients prepping for colonoscopy. All participants received standard bowel preparation instructions and were given a leaflet with general guidelines on bowel preparation. The leaflet included photos representing bowel preparation quality and informed patients that their stool should eventually be a yellowish clear liquid; if any cloudiness (including turbid liquid, particles, or small amounts of feces) is observed in the liquid stool, the bowel preparation is not complete. All patients were prescribed standard polyethylene glycol electrolyte solution for bowel cleansing 4 to 6 hours before the colonoscopy.