Background/Aims: Carbon dioxide is increasingly used in insufflation during colonoscopy in adult patients; however, air insufflation remains the primary practice among pediatric gastroenterologists. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate insufflation using CO 2 versus air in colonoscopies in pediatric patients. Methods: Individualized search strategies were performed using MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and LILACS databases following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and Cochrane working methodology. Randomized control trials (RCTs) were selected for the present meta-analysis. Pooled proportions were calculated for outcomes including procedure time and abdominal pain immediately and 24 hours post-procedure. Results: The initial search yielded 644 records, of which five RCTs with a total of 358 patients (CO 2 : n=178 versus air: n=180) were included in the final analysis. The procedure time was not different between the CO 2 and air insufflation groups (mean difference, 10.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], -2.55 to 24.22; p=0.11). Abdominal pain immediately post-procedure was significantly lower in the CO 2 group (risk difference [RD], -0.15; 95% CI; -0.26 to -0.03; p=0.01) while abdominal pain at 24 hours post-procedure was similar (RD, -0.05; 95% CI; -0.11 to 0.01; p=0.11). Conclusions: Based on this systematic review and meta-analysis of RCT data, CO 2 insufflation reduced abdominal pain immediately following the procedure, while pain was similar at 24 hours post-procedure. These results suggest that CO 2 is a preferred insufflation technique when performing colonoscopy in pediatric patients.

El empleo del contraste endovenoso permite aumentar la capacidad diagnostica de la ecoendoscopía en muchas condicionespatológicas de forma no invasiva, mediante la evaluación de patrones de realce en tiempo real (hipo, iso e hipercaptación), permitiendo a su vez definir diagnósticos diferenciales o predecir diagnósticos histológicos con alta precisión por medio de la caracterización de la vascularidad o microvasculatura de un órgano o lesión. Sin embargo, su empleo en nuestro medio está limitado por no contar con estos medios de contraste. Reportamos tres casos de ecoendoscopía contrastada realizada en patología pancreática realizada en nuestro hospital, en el que se describe la utilidad en el diagnóstico y manejo de lesionessólidas y quísticas del páncreas.