Multicentre prospective study of COVID-19 transmission following outpatient GI endoscopy in the UK

Effect of the SARS-CoV2 Pandemic on Endoscopy Provision – The Impact of Compliance with National Guidance

“…Strict patient selection and screening of patients have been shown to be safe and does not appear to be associated with the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 via endoscopy units and our study also adds to this data [14,15].…”

“…Similarly, more resources are required to support the administration of endoscopy lists so that utilization can be improved. Additional time is now required to pre-assess patients including COVID questionnaires and arranging swab testing [14]. Furthermore, given that at least 20% of the patients are still declining a procedure, more time is spent contacting patients in general and providing reassurance.…”

Safety in Endoscopy for Patients and Healthcare Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…In a survey from Northern Italy, Repici et al conducted a telephone survey at two weeks follow up after endoscopy and found that only one out of 802 patients that responded turned out to be COVID-19 positive 22 . Reassuringly, the SCOTS (Symptoms, infectious Contacts, Occupational risk, Travel risk, Shielding status) project group also reported similar results with no patients developing COVID-19 after endoscopy during the recovery phase of the pandemic at 7 and 14 days telephone follow-up 23 where a COVID-minimized pathway was instituted 24 . The SCOTS criteria are now recommended in British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) guidance.…”

“…Recently, recommendations from the AGA suggest that a pre-testing strategy will likely work best for regions with intermediate prevalence of asymptomatic carriers (0.5 -2%) 61 . Real world data from the United Kingdom during the recovery phase of the pandemic found that only 0.11% of asymptomatic patients tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on nasopharyngeal swab testing pre-endoscopy 23 .…”

Mandatory preprocedure testing for SARS-CoV-2 for all-comers may not be required for resuming endoscopic services amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

“…We read with interest the study by Hayee et al 1 which reported no COVID-19 infection in healthcare workers (HCWs) or patient after 6208 outpatient GI endoscopic procedures across 18 centres in UK with the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and infection control policies. Only 3 (0.11%) of 2611 asymptomatic patients had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 prior to endoscopy.…”