Abstract

Background: Upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy is a common procedure for the diagnosis and treatment of upper digestive tract diseases. Relief of pain and discomfort during endoscopy is necessary. In our study, the sublingual administration and the injection of midazolam were compared in terms of their efficacy in the sedation of patients undergoing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Methods: In this double-blind clinical trial, 80 patients were divided into two groups. The first and the second groups received 2.5 mg intravenous and 5 mg sublingual midazolam respectively. The patients were evaluated and compared using standard questionnaires in terms of sedation, pain/discomfort, and satisfaction. They were also monitored for blood pressure, heart rate and SPO2. The data were analyzed by the SPSS 16 software using Tukey's test and Spearman's correlation coefficient. The significance level was considered to be P<0.05. Results: According to the results, there was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of the mean Ramsay score after sublingual administration or injection. For the double dose in the sublingual group, this score was higher than that in the intravenous group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of pain and satisfaction. In both methods, the difference between the mean sedation scores was statistically significant before and after the treatment. The effect of each method was also significant on the improvement of the sedation score. There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of systolic and diastolic blood pressures, heart rate and SPO2. Conclusion: As it was concluded, double dose of sublingual midazolam has a statistically greater effect on sedation than intravenous administration. The effects of the two methods on oxygen saturation, heart rate and blood pressure are statistically similar.