Efficacy of IV Buscopan as a muscle relaxant in CT colonography

The aim of this study was to examine the efficacy of IV Buscopan as a muscle relaxant in CT colonography in terms of colonic distension and polyp detection, and to determine its particular efficacy in patients with diverticular disease. Seventy-three consecutive patients were randomised to receive IV Buscopan or no muscle relaxant prior to CT colonography. CT colonography was performed using a Siemens Somatom 4-detector multislice CT scanner. The following parameters were recorded: degree of colonic distension using a 4-point scale; diagnostic adequacy of colonic distension; presence or absence of diverticular disease; and presence of colonic polyps. Accuracy of polyp detection was assessed using subsequent conventional colonoscopy as a gold standard. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the number of segments that were deemed to be optimally or adequately distended (p=0.37). Although IV Buscopan did improve distension of certain segments, this effect was not sufficient to improve the number of diagnostically adequate studies in the Buscopan group (p=0.14). In patients with diverticular disease, IV Buscopan did not have any significant effect on segments affected by diverticulosis but was associated with an improvement in distension of more proximal segments. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of polyp detection (p=0.34). The addition of prone scanning to supine scanning was found to be the most useful technique for maximising colonic distension. Intravenous Buscopan at CT colonography does not improve the overall adequacy of colonic distension nor the accuracy of polyp detection. In patients with sigmoid diverticular disease IV Buscopan improves distension of more proximal colonic segments and may be useful in selected cases, but our results do not support its routine use for CT colonography.