Abstract
BackgroundDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, several questions have arisen about which endoscopic procedures (EPs) must be performed and which ones can be postponed. The aim of this study was to conduct a nationwide survey regarding the appropriate timing of EPs during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsThis prospective study was performed through a nationwide electronic survey. The survey consisted of 15 questions divided into three sections. The first evaluated the agreement for EPs classified as “time sensitive” and “not time sensitive”. Two other sections assessed “high-priority” and “low-priority” scenarios. Agreement was considered when > 75% of respondents answered a question in the same direction.ResultsThe response rate was 27.2% (214/784). Among the respondents, agreement for the need to perform EP in < 72 h was only reached for variceal bleeding (93.4%). Dysphagia with alarm symptoms was the scenario in which the highest percentage of physicians (95.9%) agreed that an EP needed to be performed within a month. Less than 30% of endoscopists would perform an EP within the first 72 h for patients with mild cholangitis, non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding without hemodynamic instability, or severe anaemia without overt bleeding. In time-sensitive clinical scenarios suggestive of benign disease, none of the scenarios reached agreement in any sense. Among the time-sensitive clinical scenarios suggestive of malignancy, > 90% of the surveyed respondents considered that EP could not be postponed for > 8 weeks.ConclusionsThere was no consensus among endoscopists about the timing of EPs in patients with pathologies considered time sensitive or in those with high-priority pathologies. Agreement was only reached in five (17%) of the evaluated clinical scenarios.Supplementary InformationThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00464-021-08290-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several questions have arisen about which endoscopic procedures (EPs) must be performed and which ones can be postponed
A 15-question Spanish questionnaire was designed using Google’s Electronic Forms tool to find out the opinion of endoscopists at a national level regarding the times they deemed appropriate to perform EPs classified in accordance with the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) and European Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE)
In the following two sections, using the approach proposed by ESGE, respondents were asked about specific low- and high-priority clinical scenarios and about when these EPs should be performed
Summary
During the COVID-19 pandemic, several questions have arisen about which endoscopic procedures (EPs) must be performed and which ones can be postponed. The aim of this study was to conduct a nationwide survey regarding the appropriate timing of EPs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Agreement was considered when > 75% of respondents answered a question in the same direction. Agreement for the need to perform EP in < 72 h was only reached for variceal bleeding (93.4%). In time-sensitive clinical scenarios suggestive of benign disease, none of the scenarios reached agreement in any sense. Among the time-sensitive clinical scenarios suggestive of malignancy, > 90% of the surveyed respondents considered that EP could not be postponed for > 8 weeks. Agreement was only reached in five (17%) of the evaluated clinical scenarios
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