[General anesthesia during double balloon enteroscopy--Hungarian experiences]

Double balloon enteroscopy needs sufficient sedation technique, because the examination is uncomfortable and lengthy. The most prevalent sedation method is conscious sedation world-wide.

To demonstrate that double balloon enteroscopy examination can also be safely performed in general anesthesia with intubation and that this method can be an option in patients with severe multiple morbidities.

A retrospective evaluation of intubation narcosis in patients undergoing double balloon enteroscopy was performed at the 1st Department of Internal Medicine, Semmelweis University. Patients were grouped based on gender, age and physical state. Anesthesia records included the duration of anesthesia, the quantities of medications used and anesthesia-related complications.

Data obtained from 108 general anesthesia cases were analyzed. There were no permanent anesthesia-related complications in the period examined. The most frequent side effects of anesthesia were hypotension (30.55%), desaturation (21.29%), and apnea (17.59%). These complications were significantly more frequent among patients with multiple morbidities; however, their incidence was not proportional with the quantity of the medications used or the duration of anesthesia.

The findings confirm that the most important advantage of general anesthesia over other methods is that it ensures stable airways, which makes it easy to counter-act frequent complications such as desaturation, apnea and aspiration. The number of complications of anesthesia was higher among patients with multiple morbidities, but these complications could be easily overcome in all patient groups. Therefore, this method is highly recommended for patients with multiple morbidities. Intubation narcosis can be also a viable option of conscious sedation for patients without co-morbidities.