Some years ago a symposium about non-invasive diagnostics attended by engineers and gastroenterologists was opened by the chairman with the following comment about his experience of colonoscopy: ‘you doctors call it discomfort, we patients call it pain’. As recognised by the Newcastle Endoprem, there are other elements which contribute to the apparent dichotomous views of patients, who regard colonoscopy with considerable anxiety, and gastroenterologists, who feel that most …