Triaging Patients Undergoing Endoscopy During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

"Triaging for endoscopy" is the process to determine the most deserving patients after careful scrutiny amongst a pool of patients who report for Gastrointestinal (GI) Endoscopy diagnostic or interventional procedures that include Esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy (OGD), Colonoscopy, ERCP, EUS and Enteroscopy. The purpose of triaging at endoscopy is to prevent transmission of SARS-COV2 infection from suspected patient to the health care workers involved at endoscopy. The three professional Indian Gastroenterology bodies namely Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy of India (SGEI), Indian Society of Gastroenterology (ISG) & Indian Association for the study of the liver (INASL) have recently provided guidance of scheduling of endoscopic procedures in the current Covid-9 pandemic. Similar suggestions have been promulgated by other international bodies.