Anesthesia Does Not Increase the Rate of Bowel Perforation During Colonoscopy: A Retrospective Study

Received 6 October 2008; received in revised form 21 May 2009; accepted 26 May 2009.

Objective

To compare the complication rates of bowel perforation during colonos-copy performed with or without anesthesia.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 9501 case records of colonoscopy performed at the Chi Mei Medical Center between 2000 and 2004, and compared the rates of bowel perforation between patients receiving anesthesia during the procedure versus those that did not receive anesthesia. Poisson distribution was used for statistical analysis.

Results

Only one case of perforation was found in the non-anesthetized group (n = 2460) compared with two cases in the anesthetized group (n = 7041). No statistical difference was found (p = 0.6173; risk ratio = 0.6988; 95% confidence interval by Byar's method = 0.063 – 7.705).

Conclusion

During colonoscopy, anesthesia per se does not affect the rate of bowel perforation.

KEY WORDS: anesthesia , colonoscopy , intestinal perforation

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a Department of Anesthesiology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Yung Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.

b Department of Urology, Chi Mei Medical Center, Yung Kang, Taiwan, R.O.C.

c Department of Physiology, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

d Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

e Department of Cosmetic Science, Chia Nan University of Pharmacy and Science, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Corresponding author. Department of Anesthesia, Chi Mei Medical Center, 901 Chung Hwa Road, Yung Kang, Tainan, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Presented at the CSM2005 Annual Scientific Meeting of the Anaesthetists of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, August 2005.

PII: S1875-4597(09)60049-7

doi:10.1016/S1875-4597(09)60049-7

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