NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Two oral solutions that are commonly used to prepare the bowels for colonoscopy are unlikely to harm the kidneys, new research suggests.
The report appears in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.
The study involved 2,352 patients who had normal kidney function prior to undergoing colonoscopy at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit from November 1999 through October 2005.
Overall, 269 patients received polyethylene glycol (PEG)
and 2,083 received sodium phosphate. Eighty-eight of the patients developed kidney dysfunction after colonoscopy, Dr. Judith K. Jones with the Degge Group in Arlington, Virginia and colleagues report.
Of the 88 cases, 9 had received PEG and 79 had received sodium phosphate. Further analysis showed that whether the patient received PEG or sodium phosphate did not affect their risk of kidney dysfunction.
Risk factors for kidney dysfunction included age over 65 years, African-American race, high blood pressure, lower kidney filtering ability, and the use of certain blood pressure drugs.
An accompanying editorial, by Dr. Gregory Zuccaro of the Cleveland Clinic, and others, note that the study may not have been designed to detect differences between the sodium phosphate and PEG groups. Still, based on prior research, either agent is a suitable choice for most patients undergoing colonoscopy.
SOURCE: American Journal of Gastroenterology, December 2007.
