Complicated endoscopic pediatric procedures using deep sedation and general anesthesia are safe in the endoscopy...

Complicated upper and lower endoscopic procedures of the gastrointestinal tract are performed in children for a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic reasons. Unlike adult patients, who receive conscious sedation, children usually require deep sedation (DS) or general anesthesia (GA). The aim of this study is to assess the safety parameters of complicated endoscopic procedures under DS or GA performed in children in the endoscopy suite rather than in the operating theatre.

Between May 1997 and December 2002, 296 patients (mean age 4.5 years, range 3 weeks to 16 years), defined as ASA I-III, underwent either DS or GA for endoscopic foreign body extraction, endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) or percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) insertion. ASA physical status I was found in 15%, II in 57% and III in 28%. The pathologies included neuromuscular diseases, genetic syndromes, nesidioblastosis, biliary atresia, hematologic, respiratory (cystic fibrosis) and cardiac disorders. Propofol was the drug of choice (63%) followed by a combination of propofol and midazolam (16%).

Transient desaturation (O2 saturation <90%) was the only complication recorded in 21/296 (7.09%) patients. Only two patients with severe respiratory underlying disease were hospitalized for follow-up for a 24-h period.

The use of DS and GA for complicated endoscopies in a moderately high-risk pediatric population was found to be safe. The very low complication rate found in this study suggests that complicated pediatric patients can be managed successfully outside the operating theatre, provided that all the safety criteria for ambulatory DS or anesthesia are present.