Procedural sedation

Purpose of review To encapsulate the recent developments in endoscopic procedural sedation from the standpoints of safety, efficacy and policy. Recent findings Initial studies addressing the presence of obstructive sleep apnea in patients undergoing upper endoscopy and colonoscopy did not find an increased risk of cardiopulmonary complications. A worldwide study of 646 080 patients receiving endoscopist-directed propofol sedation found a mortality rate of one per 161 515 cases, which all occurred in patients with high-risk comorbidities. The incidence of bag mask ventilation was significantly higher for upper endoscopy when compared to colonoscopy (185/185 245; 0.1% vs. 20/142 863, 0.01%; P<0.001). Summary The presence of obstructive sleep apnea whether diagnosed by a surrogate validated questionnaire to by the gold standard sleep study does not appear to lead to increased rates of hypoxemia in patients undergoing ambulatory upper endoscopy. Endoscopist-directed propofol sedation is well tolerated in the appropriately selected patient. The use of anesthesia-assisted sedation for American Society of Anesthesiologists class I and II patients for upper endoscopy and colonoscopy is cost-ineffective.