Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Is Safe in Patients Before and After Lung or Heart Transplantation

Gastrointestinal complications are common in patients after lung and heart transplantation. Endoscopy is a standard method for the assessment of gastrointestinal morbidities. The aim of this study was to analyze the number and type of complications during endoscopic procedures in patients before and after lung or heart transplantation.

A retrospective single centre analysis of endoscopic procedures in patients before and after lung and heart transplantation from May 1999 to September 2012 was performed compared to a control group.

Four hundred fifty-nine endoscopic procedures were performed in 175 patients after transplantation (84 lung and 91 heart) and 213 procedures in 160 transplant candidates on the waiting list for lung (n = 126) or heart (n = 34) transplantation. In 26% (n = 56/214) of the endoscopic examinations, an intervention was necessary in the lung transplant group compared to 32% (n = 79/245) in the heart transplant group and 27% (n = 43/160) and 21% (n = 11/53) in the lung and heart transplant candidates, respectively. In the control group, endoscopic interventions were performed in 24% (n = 195/805) of the examinations. Overall, 14 (1%) complications resulted from 1,477 endoscopic examinations. Only four (0.9%) of 459 endoscopic examinations were followed by complications in the transplant recipients, whereas in the control group, 10 complications (1.2%) of 805 endoscopies were documented. No endoscopic complication occurred in the lung and heart transplant candidates.

Diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopies can be safely performed after lung and heart transplantation and in patients on the waiting list for these organs.