Safety of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy During the Second Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic: A Single Tertiary Centre Prospective Study

Aims To determine the incidence of COVID-19 transmission following outpatient gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy during rising community incidence of COVID-19.

Methods This prospective study was conducted in a single tertiary referral centre in Dublin. Consecutive patients who attended the endoscopy unit for a procedure at time points in June, September, and October 2020 were included. Patients received a COVID-19 triage phone call 48 hours before their procedure. COVID-19 testing was not performed before outpatient endoscopy. Inpatients and any outpatient that failed telephone triage were excluded. Standard surgical masks, FFPs and PPE were used by endoscopy staff for all procedures. Patients were contacted 14 days after the procedure to enquire if they had developed symptoms suggestive of COVID-19.

Results 522 patients who had GI endoscopy were enrolled, and 506(96.9 %) were contacted for follow up. 163, 157, and 186 patients were included in June, September, and October respectively. The mean age was 55.6(range 16-92). Nationally there were 558, 7430, and 25476 new cases of COVID-19 in June, September, and October respectively.

In the two weeks post endoscopy, 7/506(1.3 %) patients required testing for symptoms suggestive of COVID-19. All patients had negative results. No member of our endoscopy personnel contracted COVID-19 during the study period.

Conclusions This study highlights that the risk of COVID-19 transmission related to GI endoscopy is negligible despite dramatic escalation in community infection.

Citation: Aoko O, Yousuf H, Humphreys N et al. OP24 SAFETY OF GASTROINTESTINAL ENDOSCOPY DURING THE SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A SINGLE TERTIARY CENTRE PROSPECTIVE STUDY. Endoscopy 2021; 53: S13.

Publication History

Article published online:
19 March 2021