A cross-sectional study to compare anesthesia techniques employed for the conduct of upper gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures in a gastroenterology suite of a tertiary care hospital

Background: Endoscopic procedures in gastroenterology (GE) imaging suite are conducted primarily under moderate sedation (MS) and general anesthesia (GA). Various factors determine the choice of the technique such as the physical status of the patient, an anticipated difficult procedure, or an unanticipated complication. Aims: The aim was to study various factors affecting the selection of anesthesia techniques in patients undergoing endoscopy. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study in a tertiary care hospital. Methods: All patients who underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures (n = 373) from January 2017 to December 2018 were included in the study. Patients were divided into groups on the basis of the anesthesia technique employed as MS – Group I (n = 343) and GA – Group II (n = 30). Data were collected for patient related and procedure related factors such as age, sex, physical status of the patient, complexity of the endoscopic procedures, anesthesia duration, drugs used, complications and recovery profile, which were analyzed for the two groups as per the entries made in the GE suite and central anesthesia registry. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software Version 22.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). Categorical variables were tested using Chi-square test and means were compared using t-test. Conclusions: MS was preferred in patients with lesser grades of physical status and in less complex GE procedures as compared to GA.