Can Gastric Juice Analysis with EndoFaster^® Reduce the Environmental Impact of Upper Endoscopy?

Gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy services are in third place as major contributors to CO₂ emissions among healthcare facilities, especially due to their massive waste production. One of the measures suggested to reduce this environmental impact is a reduction in histological examinations performed on biopsy specimens taken during endoscopy. A reliable candidate to reduce the rate of biopsies and, consequently, the impact of CO₂ emissions could be EndoFaster^®, an innovative medical device that allows one to suspect or rule out both H. pylori infection and precancerous lesions on the gastric mucosa by analyzing a small amount of gastric juice aspirated during endoscopy in real time. In the present study, we investigated the ability of EndoFaster^® to reduce the environmental impact of upper endoscopy, comparing the CO₂ production of standard biopsy sampling as suggested in guidelines and biopsies guided by real-time EndoFaster^® results during endoscopy. By estimating an overall 90% rate of biopsies according to standard guidelines and a reduction of 50% of gastric biopsies based on EndoFaster^® results, we calculated a 44% overall reduction in CO₂ emissions, demonstrating that by using this tool, it is possible to distinctly reduce the contribution of upper endoscopy to global warming.