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: When patients choose sedation or no sedation for gastroscopy, it is unknown whether the decision and experience of preceding patients on the same endoscopy list influence such decisions.: To address this question in an endoscopy unit, where pre- and postprocedure patients are free to communicate.: The order and sedation decisions of 503 out-patients attending diagnostic gastroscopy lists were analysed. One hundred patients completed a preprocedural questionnaire about sedation preferences.: Three hundred and fifteen (63%) patients chose no sedation. Men were more likely to be unsedated, 170 (72%), than women 158 (59%) (χ2 = 9.1,P < 0.01). Age did not influence decisions. If the first patient on an endoscopy list requested sedation, 36% of subsequent patients were also sedated. This was similar to 38% of subsequently sedated patients on lists where the first patient was unsedated. Similar proportions of subsequent patients requested sedation when comparing lists where the first two patients were both sedated or both unsedated and when comparing lists where the first three patients were all sedated or all unsedated. Ninety per cent of the patients completing preprocedural questionnaires had made sedation choices before arrival; the remaining undecided patients had unsedated endoscopies.: Patients’ sedation decisions are not influenced by preceding patients’ decisions. Most patients attending for out-patient gastroscopy have already decided about sedation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to review the effectiveness of an endoscopic surveillance programme for patients with Barrett's oesophagus (BO). The surveillance programme for Barrett's oesophagus seems very efficient in detecting early carcinoma and seems to offer successful treatment without an excessive endoscopic workload. This might be explained by differences in inclusion criteria for surveillance. All patients with BO over the period from January 1997 to October 2002, were identified from endoscopic and histological records. Two yearly surveillance endoscopies with quadrantic biopsies at 3 cm intervals were performed in patients with classical Barrett's oesophagus.

This article focuses on a study that explores whether patients' preferences for sedation at gastroscopy are influenced by preceding patients' decisions. When patients are offered a choice of being sedated or not for gastroscopy, it is not known whether such decisions are influenced by the decision and experience of preceding patients on the same endoscopy list. A patient's decision to have sedation or not during a diagnostic gastroscopy is not influenced by the decision of preceding patients on the same endoscopy list.