Toward high-quality bowel preparation in Italy: insights from a nationwide cross-sectional survey of endoscopists

Background: Understanding endoscopists’ perspectives and routine practice offers opportunities to improve bowel cleansing for colonoscopy. Objective: To elucidate Italian endoscopists’ perceptions of bowel preparation quality, focusing on defining high-quality cleansing (HQC) and its perceived benefits in clinical practice and for diagnostic outcomes. Design: Nationwide, cross-sectional, web-based survey. Methods: A nationwide, web-based cross-sectional survey was undertaken in Italy between August and September 2024 among gastroenterologists with special interest in endoscopy. Participants were recruited via telephone screening; of 498 gastroenterologists contacted, 150 respondents completed an online questionnaire; analyses were descriptive. Results: The survey results revealed that all respondents (100%) routinely evaluate and document cleansing in the endoscopy report and almost all (99%) used validated scales. The majority (72%) of endoscopists aimed for HQC, which they defined as a segment score of ⩾8–9 on the Boston Bowel Preparation Scale or ‘excellent’ on the Aronchick scale. Almost all (93%) considered HQC important in every colonoscopy regardless of indication. All respondents considered that HQC allows higher identification rates for adenomas and sessile serrated lesions, reduces procedure time, and improves overall clinical efficiency; 99% considered that HQC allows for more appropriate surveillance intervals. On a scale of 1–10 to rate confidence with the diagnostic reliability of the exam (1 = not at all confident, 10 = very confident), the respondents’ levels of confidence improved with high-quality bowel preparation; mean scores were 2.1 with inadequate preparation, 6.6 with good cleansing and 9.2 with high-quality bowel cleansing. Conclusion: The survey revealed that the vast majority of Italian endoscopists consider HQC essential across all clinical indications. The results support the transition from ‘good’ to ‘high-quality’ cleansing as the new standard in clinical colonoscopy practice.