The effect on pain experienced by male patients of watching their office-based flexible cystoscopy

OBJECTIVE To confirm the recently published positive effect on visual analogue pain (VAS) scale levels for men watching their flexible cystoscopy. PATIENTS AND METHODS From June 2007 to September 2007, 154 men had a flexible cystoscopy for various indications, all carried out by one urologist. Patients were randomized into two groups; those in group 1 were allowed to watch the video screen together with the urologist during the procedure; those in group 2 were not allowed to watch the procedure on the video screen. All patients received the same real-time explanation during the cystoscopy. After the cystoscopy procedure the patients were asked to record their experience of pain on the 100 mm VAS as soon as they left the room. The two groups were further stratified by the number of previous cystoscopies experienced to evaluate the possible modifying effect of their previous experience. RESULTS Although the results suggested a small decrease in perceived pain there were no statistically significant differences between the groups, regardless of cystoscopy experience. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that, in contrast to an earlier report, the pain experienced by men undergoing a first or repeated flexible cystoscopy is not strongly influenced by watching the procedure.