Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 18;11(6):1681.
doi: 10.3390/jcm11061681.

Coronavirus Disease Transmission Prevented in an Endoscopy Unit with Universal Protective Measures and No Systematic Preprocedural Testing

Lucía Guilabert  1 , José Ramón Aparicio  1 , Lucía Medina-Prado  1 , Juan Carlos Rodríguez-Díaz  2 , María Luisa Gomis  1 , Pablo Chico-Sánchez  3 , José Sánchez-Payá  3 , Rodrigo Jover  1   4
Affiliations

Coronavirus Disease Transmission Prevented in an Endoscopy Unit with Universal Protective Measures and No Systematic Preprocedural Testing

Lucía Guilabert et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Background and aims: Even after two years of pandemic, there are still uncertainties on how to proceed when we schedule endoscopic procedures. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some scientific societies recommended universal preprocedural testing for all patients. However, other societies recommended against and considered enough to maintain strict infection control strategies. Our aim was to evaluate this approach in order to see if it was safe for both patients and healthcare workers to proceed with the endoscopies without performing a systematic PCR on all patients.

Methods: Retrospective chart review of all patients undergoing endoscopy without preprocedural COVID testing at our center from March 2020 to May 2021. PCR tests performed in the patients receiving an endoscopic procedure were analyzed, and patients who tested positive between 14 days before and after the endoscopic procedure were selected. The registry of the endoscopy unit members participating in these procedures was also analyzed.

Results: A total of 10,132 procedures were performed in the unit with 26 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. Nineteen of these procedures were performed in patients with unknown SARS-CoV-2 carrier status. In 23 (88.5%) cases, transmission occurred through social or familial contact, and in 3 (11.5%), transmission occurred in the hospital. Four health care workers became infected during this period and none of them were related to the endoscopic procedures performed in patients with COVID-19.

Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 positive testing in asymptomatic ambulatory patients is rare and the adequate use of individual protective measures emerges as the main way to control the spread of COVID-19 infection in endoscopy centers.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; coronavirus; endoscopy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
COVID-19 incidence in the Health Department of Alicante–Hospital General in 2020 and 2021. The 14-day COVID-19 incidence rose above 250 cases/100,000 inhabitants within 23 weeks, and above 500 cases/100,000 inhabitants within 8 weeks.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of endoscopic procedures performed in Alicante’s endoscopy unit in 2020 and 2021. Infection control strategy enable us to resume our pre-pandemic endoscopic activity rapidly.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

  • Effect of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on colorectal cancer diagnosis and prognosis.
    Medina-Prado L, Sala-Miquel N, Aicart-Ramos M, López-Cardona J, Ponce-Romero M, Ortíz O, Pellisé M, Aguilera L, Díez-Redondo P, Núñez-Rodríguez H, Seoane A, Domper-Arnal MJ, Borao-Laguna C, González-Bernardo Ó, Suárez A, Muñoz-Tornero M, Bustamante-Balén M, Soutullo-Castiñeiras C, Balleste-Peris B, Esteban P, Jiménez-Gómez M, Albert M, Lucas J, Valdivieso-Cortázar E, López-Serrano A, Solano M, Tejedor-Tejada J, Trelles M, Zapater P, Jover R. Medina-Prado L, et al. Cancer Med. 2024 Mar;13(5):e6923. doi: 10.1002/cam4.6923. Cancer Med. 2024. PMID: 38491824 Free PMC article.

References

    1. Gralnek I.M., Hassan C., Beilenhoff U., Antonelli G., Ebigbo A., Pellisè M., Arvanitakis M., Bhandari P., Bisschops R., Van Hooft J.E., et al. ESGE and ESGENA Position Statement on gastrointestinal endoscopy and the COVID-19 pandemic. Endoscopy. 2020;52:483–490. doi: 10.1055/a-1155-6229. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Marin-Gabriel J.C., de Santiago E.R., Asociación Española de Gastroenterología and the Sociedad Española de Endoscopia Digestiva AEG-SEED position paper for the resumption of endoscopic activity after the peak phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2020;43:389–407. doi: 10.1016/j.gastre.2020.05.001. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sultan S., Lim J.K., Altayar O., Davitkov P., Feuerstein J.D., Siddique S.M., Falck-Ytter Y., El-Serag H.B. AGA Rapid Recommendations for Gastrointestinal Procedures During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Gastroenterology. 2020;159:739–758.e4. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.03.072. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sultan S., Siddique S.M., Altayar O., Caliendo A.M., Davitkov P., Feuerstein J.D., Francis D., Inadomi J.M., Lim J.K., Falck-Ytter Y., et al. AGA Institute Rapid Review and Recommendations on the Role of Pre-Procedure SARS-CoV-2 Testing and Endoscopy. Gastroenterology. 2020;159:1935–1948.e5. doi: 10.1053/j.gastro.2020.07.043. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Gralnek I.M., Hassan C., Beilenhoff U., Antonelli G., Ebigbo A., Pellisé M., Arvanitakis M., Bhandari P., Bisschops R., Van Hooft J.E., et al. ESGE and ESGENA Position Statement on gastrointestinal endoscopy and COVID-19: An update on guidance during the post-lockdown phase and selected results from a membership survey. Endoscopy. 2020;52:891–898. doi: 10.1055/a-1213-5761. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources