RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Medications to relief pain are more common in the everyday use during the colonoscopy practice, although schemes of medications vary. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and the safety of propofol versus midazolam and petidhine in colonoscopy. METHOD: A randomized and simple-blind controlled clinical trial was carried out. We included 512 patients who underwent a colonoscopy during the period from February 2008 to January 2009. using propofol in one group and midazolam plus petidhine in another. RESULTS: Cecal intubation was achieved in 247 patients (96.5%) with propofol and in 256 patients (100%) with midazolam plus petidhine. There were no significant differences between both methods regarding to the explored colon distance. Fifty-five patients (21.5%) had complications in the group receiving midazolam plus petidhine and 3 (1.2%) in the group receiving propofol. Complications were mild in both groups. Propofol reduced the relative risk of complications in 94.6% and absolute risk in 20.3%. Patients referred the same satisfaction degree with both methods. CONCLUSIONS: The use of propofol and midazolam plus petidhine is equally efficacious in the performance of the colonoscopy, while propofol is safer than midazolam plus propofol as a method of deep sedation.