Background and study aims Using personal protective equipment (PPE) can reduce risk of disease transmission.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, enhanced PPE (EPPE) is recommended when performing endoscopy.
We aimed to evaluate the impact of EPPE on colonoscopy performance when compared to
standard PPE (SPPE).
Patients and methods A review of electronic medical records and endoscopy reports of consecutive patients
who underwent colonoscopy during two similar one-month time periods (in 2019 and during
the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020) was performed. SPPE was used in 2019 and EPPE was used
in 2020. Patient clinical data and procedure-related information were captured and
analyzed. The primary outcomes were time to cecum (TTC) and total procedure time.
Secondary outcomes were adenoma detection rate (ADR), polyp detection rate (PDR) and
cecal intubation rate (CIR). Statistical analysis was performed using STATA v16.1.
Results Two hundred and forty-seven colonoscopy procedures were analyzed. Baseline demographics
and indications for colonoscopy of patients in both groups were similar. There were
no significant differences in median TTC (10.0 vs 10.0 min, P = 0.524) or total procedure time (22.5 vs 23.0 min, P = 0.946) between colonoscopy performed in SPPE and EPPE. The ADR, PDR and CIR were
also similar.
Conclusion Our findings suggest that use of EPPE does not affect colonoscopy performance.
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