Office colonoscopy—A safe procedure in selected patients

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Abstract
Colonoscopy is a common procedure, usually performed in a hospital setting. Hospital backup is desirable for high-risk patients, but the cost to benefit ratio may be unnecessarily high for low-risk patients. The demand for colonoscopic examinations is escalating, and cost containment has become an important issue. One way to reduce the cost is to climinate the hospital component by performing the examination in the office. Over the past two and a half years, colonoscopy was performed on selected patients in the authors' office. Five hundred fifty-four office colonoscopies were performed to date, including biopsy or polypectomy in 348. Basic principles of safe intravenous sedation and colonoscopy were followed strictly. The cecum was reached in 92 percent of cases, and no signficant complications were encountered. Office colonoscopy is a safe alternative to hospital colonoscopy. It confers significant cost savings to the patient and allows more efficient use of the physician's time.