Conscious sedation in gastrointestinal endoscopy.

In recent years, the incidences of stomach and colon cancers have ranked within the top fives of all malignancies in Taiwan. To say healthwise, regular gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopic examinations are recommended, as they are the best way for early detection. However, unpleasantness of and terrible experience from the examination greatly discourage the acceptance of many people even of the suspected groups. Now, the administration of sedative or analgesic to achieve the so called "conscious sedation" during GI endoscopy which brings about better tolerability and improves general acceptance offers a more satisfactory service. In this article, the related issues about preprocedure evaluation, preparation, medications and complications of conscious sedation in GI endoscopy are discussed after review.