Patients decision making in choosing between colonic investigations
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Patients’ decision making in choosing between colonic investigation alternatives
IRAS ID
309455
Contact name
Shaun Treweek
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 23 days
Research summary
Patients may need to undergo bowel investigations for many reasons. Most commonly it is because they have developed new symptoms such as a change in their bowel habit or noticing blood in their stool. Colonoscopy is the most common method for investigating the bowel in the UK. It involves inserting a long flexible camera into the bottom to look inside the large bowel. However, colonoscopy is invasive, can be painful for many patients and currently has significant waiting times.
Colon capsule endoscopy (CCE) is a painless, alternative method for investigating the large bowel. It is currently being introduced in the UK and involves patients swallowing the pillcam which contains a camera at each end which takes pictures of the bowel wall. CCE has the advantage that it can be carried out closer to patients’ homes and once the capsule has been administered, they can return home to complete the procedure. Patients undergoing CCE are required to take strong laxatives to clean the bowel. The volume required is greater and taken over a longer period of time compared to colonoscopy. CCE is now an established procedure in the UK. No changes to the procedure or bowel preparation regimen will be made for this study.
Given the different attributes of CCE and colonoscopy, we plan to interview patients to better understand how they make the decision to undergo a bowel test and what their priorities are when choosing between different tests. No research to date has collected interview data from patients comparing CCE and colonoscopy. The results of this research will be used to carry out further studies to improve our understanding which test attributes are important for patients so they can be better informed during the decision making and consenting process.REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 2
REC reference
22/NS/0058
Date of REC Opinion
9 May 2022
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion