Endoscopic Procedural Safety

In spite of the remarkable growth in the number and diversity of gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures performed over the past 30 years, endoscopy has maintained a remarkably good overall safety record. Large retrospective surveys of complication rates of specific endoscopic procedures confirm that endoscopy is safe [1–4]. On the basis of variable complication rates of different types of endoscopy, each individual procedure may have its own “inherent” complication rate. For example, diagnostic procedures are safer than therapeutic procedures as is shown for colonoscopy and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) in Table 1. Complications may also be considered as procedure-related (e.g. bleeding, perforation) or more generic and most often sedation-related (e.g. miscellaneous cardiopulmonary adverse events).