Safety and Efficacy of High Dose Bowel Preparation Solutions for Patients With Difficult To Clean Colons For Colonoscopy

Most of our patients use a standard dose of Gatorade (64 oz) and a tasteless laxative powder called MiraLAX (306 g) to clean their colons out for a colonoscopy. Occasionally, patients have chosen to use other FDA approved solutions to clean their colons including NuLYTELY, GoLytely, MoviPrep and SuPREP. Rarely patients choose to use high doses of MagCitrate.

Despite drinking all their liquid to clean their colon, a few patients have difficult to clean out colons and the quality of their colonoscopy preparation was not good. No one has ever studied what liquids to give these patients when they have another colonoscopy. Most doctors recommend using higher than standard doses of bowel cleaning liquids, but the safety and effectiveness of these higher doses has never been studied.

Patients will already have been assigned a higher than standard dose of a bowel cleaning liquid of their choice for their planned colonoscopy. This is our standard of care for cleaning out the colons of patients who previous had colonoscopies with colons that were not adequately cleaned. If the patient chooses to participate in this study, the plans to clean their colon will remain unchanged.

Before and during the study: The subject will clean out thier colon in the days before their colonoscopy just as they would have if they were not part of the study. They will be asked to fill out a short questionnaire before the colonoscopy about their experience with the liquid and the clean out process.

We would like to obtain a blood test (basic metabolic profile) that looks at each subject's kidney function within 3 months before their colonoscopy and before the IV is started for the colonoscopy. This involves a simple needle stick to draw 1 teaspoon (5 ml) of blood. If the subject had had blood tests done for other reasons within 3 months of their colonoscopy, these results can be used in place of the first blood sample.