A study, presented at United European Gastroenterology Week, found that perforations caused by colonoscopies typically lead to surgery and prolonged hospital admissions, according to a Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News report.
Here are five insights:
1. Researchers examined 263,000 colonoscopies performed over a seven-year period within England's National Health Service Bowel Cancer Screening Programme.
2. In total, 147 perforations were identified; however complete data was available for only 117 cases.
3. Of the 117 cases, almost all resulted in hospital admission, and 54 percent required surgery.
4. Around 70 percent of perforations occurred during therapeutic procedures.
5. The median hospital length-of-stay for patients with a colonoscopy-related perforation was 9.5 days.