RESUMEN
Objective To observe the effect of electronic colonoscopy on heart rate,blood pressure,arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation and electrocardiography in elderly patients.Methods 60 patients were divided into two groups,elderly group (over 60 years old,n=30) and non-elderly group (＜ 60 years old,n =30).The changes in heart rate,blood pressure,arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation and electrocardiography before and during colonoscopy were compared between the two groups.The increased heart rate was observed in both groups(the non-elderly group:t=10.746,P＜0.001; the elderly group:t=4.892,P＜0.001),and the increment of heart rate was higher in non-elderly group than in elderly group [(6.9±3.7) /min vs.(4.0±3.8) /min,t=2.88,P＜ 0.01].Results Systolic and diastolic pressures were increased in both groups during colonoscopy as compared with pre-colonoscopy(t=3.88,5.88,6.55 and 7.43,respectively,P＜0.01 or 0.001),but there were no significant differences in the increment between the two groups(t=0.31 and 0.32,bothP＞0.05).Arterial hemoglobin oxygen saturation was decreased in both groups during colonoscopy as compared with pre-colonoscopy(t=3.05 and 2.98,P＜0.05 or 0.01),and there was no significant difference in the decrease between the two groups(t=-0.13,P＞0.05).Abnormal ECG can be detected in both groups,but had no statistical significance between the two groups (20.0％ vs.16.7％,x2 =0.11,P＞ 0.05).Conclusions Electronic colonoscopy can be performed relatively safely in the elderly.