The length of time needed to do a colonoscopy depends on the patient’s condition, and most patients need time from ten minutes to one hour.
1. If the patient’s condition is mild and simple, and the intestinal tract is smooth, colonoscopy usually takes only ten minutes.
2. If the patient has intestinal adhesions during the examination, colonoscopy generally takes longer, up to one hour, or even longer; if more complex lesions such as intestinal ulcers, intestinal space-occupying lesions, etc. are found, in order to determine the nature of the disease (e.g., benign or malignant), it is necessary to bite and take tissues from different locations to do a biopsy of the lesion, and it may take a little longer.
3. If the bowel is not adequately prepared before doing colonoscopy such as bowel movement is not cleaned up, the lesion will be obscured during colonoscopy, which may interfere with the doctor’s examination and prolong the examination time.
Therefore, the length of time needed to do colonoscopy is mainly based on the different conditions of the disease and the intestinal condition of the patient, and the time of colonoscopy will also be different.