the present invention will be more readily understood by referring to the following example , which represents in a non - limitative manner preferred embodiments . a 52 year old male financial analyst ( hb ) was referred for colonic polyps screening in the context of familial incidence of colonic cancer ; his father had died of metastatic colonic cancer at the age of 62 years . the patient had received a complete colonoscopy three years before in a hospital based gastro - intestinal unit , and this experience left him very anxious concerning the need for a repeat examination . the occurrence of pain during the procedure as well as the discomfort lasting few hours following the colonoscopic examination , despite parenteral sedation / analgesia , was still vivid in his memories . he wanted to negotiate an alternate diagnostic procedure such as a air - contrast barium enema . because full endoscopical examination of the colon is recognised superior to barium - enema colonography and even to “ virtual colonoscopy ”, he was proposed and finally accepted a new experimental pharmacological preparation consisting in the administration of trimebutine maleate 200 mg tablets to be taken orally three times a day for three days before the scheduled examination . he was instructed to completed this pharmacological preparation by taking two fleet ® phospho - soda 45 ml vials with five or six glasses of liquid one in the evening before the examination , and one in the morning two hours before the examination to clean and prepare “ clean - rep ” the colon . he presented alone to the endoscopy clinic and he was appropriately positioned on his left side on the examination table , and the video - endoscopic colonoscopy was initiated by the endoscopist . the colonoscopy was easily completed to the caecum in 14 minutes . no colonic spastic contractions occurred , and the air - distension of the colon needed for the progression of the instrument did not generate pain or discomfort to the patient . the whole colonic examination including the accurate examination of the colon upon retraction of the instrument lasted a total of 25 minutes and was negative for mucosal lesions and for endoluminal polypoid formations . the patient then dressed up and walked to the endoscopist &# 39 ; s office to receive the good results of the examination . he was asked several questions on his experience of the new pharmacological preparation as compared to his previous hospital - based unit experience with parenteral sedation / analgesia . he qualified the experience a very positive one ; he said he did not experience any pain and very mild discomfort during the procedure . he admitted to be prepared to receive a repeat procedure with the same preparation in a similar set - up , and was capable to drive home by himself without any assistance or recovery time . the endoscopist and the assistant nurse were very satisfied with the ease and shortness of the completed procedure . a 62 year old female retired nurse ( la ) presented with lower , and occasionally generalized , abdominal cramping together with predominantly loose motions . as part of a complete investigation , a colonoscopy was planned . she was prescribed trimebutine maleate 200 mg tablets to be taken orally three times a day for three days before the scheduled examination . she was instructed to complete the pharmacological preparation by taking two fleet ® phospho - soda 45 ml vials with five or six glasses of liquid , one in the evening before the examination , and one in the morning two hours before the examination to clean and prepare “ clean - prep ” the colon . she presented to the endoscopy unit with doubts that she could sustain the planned examination without any other drug preparation , having seen in her career many patients having barely tolerated this procedure of full colonoscopy , even after having received before the examination meperidine and midazolam intravenously . she also remembered the “ stress experienced by the endoscopist and the assistant nurse working at completing the examination rapidly and successfully reaching the caecum in these patients ”. nonetheless , she consented at trying to receive the examination without further pharmacological preparation , with the promise by the physician that the procedure would be interrupted at her request in the case that she could not tolerate the pain or discomfort . after appropriately positioning the patient on her left side , the instrument was delicately introduced in her rectum , and the progression of the instrument gently initiated . she asked to have her head elevated with a pillow so she could see the video monitor and watch the video - endoscopic recording of her examination . the progression of the instrument in the patient was easy , painless and the caecum was reached in 12 minutes . no spastic contractions delayed the progression of the instrument , and only mild but perfectly tolerable discomfort was experienced by the patient during the examination . the physician and the nurse were surprised by the fact that such a patient presenting a clinical irritable bowel syndrome could experience so little discomfort during the examination since these patients characteristically are chronically suffering from a very low threshold of viscerosentivity with solid or gaseous distension of the colon . after the procedure , she commented that she would accept to repeat the examination any time , and would not hesitate to recommend this pharmacological preparation to patients needing complete colonoscopy , and would be ready to reassure them that there were no more reasons to fear to receive such examination . a clinical study was then initiated in patients referred by general practitioners to an out - patient endoscopy unit mainly to receive a screening colonoscopy in cases with family history of adeno - carcinoma of the colon . all patients gave informed consent to take part in the trial , which was conducted in accordance with the revised declaration of helsinki . i pregnancy or lactation ; ii significant clinical or laboratory evidence of pulmonary , hepatic or renal disease or dysfunction ; iii need for non - steroidal anti - inflammatory drugs , pain - killer drugs or antispasmodic agents . the study was an open - label , single - institution , unblinded prospective pilot trial aimed at establishing whether a controlled double - blind trial is warranted . trimebutine maleate was used in the form of 200 mg tablets , given three times a day before meals for two or five days before the procedure and for one or two days after the examination the severity of symptoms experienced during the examination was assessed by the use of a visual analog scale filled in by the patients only a few minutes after the examination , and a telephone call by the assistant nurse was made two days after the procedure to inquire about any symptom or any event having occurred after the patient had resumed its normal activities . the analog scale consisted of a line marked by numbers at equal intervals from 0 to 10 . zero indicated absence of symptoms while 10 represented symptoms severe enough to interrupt the progression of the endoscopic instrument . assessed symptoms included abdominal pain / discomfort , abdominal distension and flatulence . symptom scores were tabulated and statistical were analysis carried out using students t - test . this study is in progress and aims at recruiting approximately 50 patients . the results of this study are so far quite encouraging and reflect the results obtained in the individual case studies . while the invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments thereof , it will be understood that it is capable of further modifications and this application is intended to cover any variations , uses , or adaptations of the invention following , in general , the principles of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the invention pertains and as may be applied to the essential features hereinbefore set forth , and as follows in the scope of the appended claims .
there is provided a method of reducing pain associated with colonic viscerosensitivity and spasticity induced during a colonic examination chosen from colonic endoscopy , barium / air contrast colonic radiography and virtual colonoscopy of a non - sedated patient .