Analysis of colonoscopic perforations at a local clinic and a tertiary hospital

AIM： To define the clinical characteristics, and to as- sess the management of colonoscopic complications at a local clinic. METHODS： A retrospective review of the medical re- cords was performed for the patients with iatrogenic colon perforations after endoscopy at a local clinic be- tween April 2006 and December 2010. Data obtained from a tertiary hospital in the same region were also analyzed. The underlying conditions, clinical presenta- tions, perforation locations, treatment types （operative or conservative） and outcome data for patients at the local clinic and the tertiary hospital were compared. RESULTS： A total of 10 826 colonoscopies, and 2625 therapeutic procedures were performed at a local clinic and 32 148 colonoscopies, and 7787 therapeutic proce-dures were performed at the tertiary hospital. The clinic had no perforations during diagnostic colonoscopy and 8 （0.3%） perforations were determined to be related to therapeutic procedures. The perforation rates in each therapeutic procedure were 0.06% （1/1609） in polyp- ectomy, 0.2% （2/885） in endoscopic mucosal resection （EMR）, and 3.8% （5/131） in endoscopic submucosal dis- section （ESD）. Perforation rates for ESD were significantly higher than those for polypectomy or EMR （P 〈 0.01）. All of these patients were treated conservatively. On the oth- er hand, three （0.01%） perforation cases were observed among the 24 361 diagnostic procedures performed, and these cases were treated with surgery in a tertiary hospi- tal. Six perforations occurred with therapeutic endoscopy （perforation rate, 0.08%; 1 per 1298 procedures）. Perfo- ration rates for specific procedure types were 0.02% （1 per 5500） for polypectomy, 0.17% （1 per 561） for EMR, 2.3% （1 per 43） for ESD in the tertiary hospital. There were no differences in the perforation rates for each therapeutic procedure between the clinic and the tertiary hospital. The incidence of iatrogenic perforation requiring surgical treatment was quite low in both the clinic and the tertiary hospital. No procedure-related mortalities occurred. Performing closure with endoscopic clipping reduced the C-reactive protein （CRP） titers. The mean maximum CRP titer was 2.9：1：1.6 mg/dL with clipping and 9.7 ＋ 6.2 mg/dL without clipping, respectively （P 〈 0.05）. An operation is indicated in the presence of a large perforation, and in the setting of generalized peritonitis or ongoing sepsis. Although we did not experience such case in the clinic, patients with large perforatio