The time needed for a colonoscopy usually ranges from fifteen minutes to an hour. If the patient is cooperative during the colonoscopy and no intestinal disease is found, then the colonoscopy will only take about fifteen minutes. However, if the patient is uncooperative and not completely relaxed, this may affect the length of the exam. If the colonoscopy suggests a disease, such as a colon polyp, then a colonoscopic polypectomy may be needed, which will take some additional time, and if there are more polyps, then it will take longer, possibly up to an hour. In addition, if it is a painless colonoscopy, that is, a colonoscopy under general anesthesia, then the time spent will be longer than the ordinary colonoscopy, and may take more than half an hour, or even more than an hour.