Premedication with pronase or N-acetylcysteine improves visibility during gastroendoscopy: An endoscopist-blinded, prospective, randomized study

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of patients

Category	Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Number (n)	39	35	34	39
Age (yr)	44.4 ± 14.2	44.1 ± 14.4	47.8 ± 13.9	48.7 ± 16.5
Gender (M:F)	18:21	18:17	16:18	18:21
Indication
Cancer screening	9	9	7	10
Dyspepsia	20	17	18	22
Acid regurgitation	10	9	9	7

No significant difference between each two groups. Group A received dimethylpolysiloxane, group B received dimethylpolysiloxane plus water, group C received pronase, sodium bicarbonate, and dimethylpolysiloxane plus water, and group D received N-acetylcysteine and dimethylpolysiloxane plus water.

Table 2 Mucosal visibility scores at different locations of the stomach (mean ± SD)

	Antrum	Greater curvatureof the lowergastric body	Greater curvatureof the uppergastric body	Fundus
Group A	1.74 ± 0.91eg	2.18 ± 1.14eg	2.92 ± 1.06ceg	1.38 ± 0.67ceg
Group B	1.49 ± 0.82eg	1.89 ± 0.87eg	2.49 ± 0.82ae	1.80 ± 0.80ae
Group C	1.18 ± 0.63ac	1.38 ± 0.78ac	2.06 ± 0.89ac	1.21 ± 0.41ac
Group D	1.21 ± 0.52ac	1.77 ± 0.90ac	2.33 ± 0.79a	1.28 ± 0.67ac
Total	1.41 ± 0.77	1.82 ± 0.95	2.46 ± 0.94	1.41 ± 0.69

There were significant differences in mucosal visibility scores in the upper gastric body when compared to the antrum, lower gastric body, and fundus.

^aP < 0.05 vs group A;

^cP < 0.05 vs group B;

^eP < 0.05 vs group C;

^gP < 0.05 vs group D. (a, c, e, g: one-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s multiple comparison).

Table 3 CLO test for H pylor detection in groups C and D

Category	H pylori-positive	H pylori-negative
Positive CLO test	37	2
Negative CLO test	3	31

P < 0.05 by Chi-square test.