Safety of Conscious Sedation in Patients Undergoing Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangio Pancreatography.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the safety of conscious sedation in patients undergoing endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreaticography (ERCP).

STUDY DESIGN: An observational study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Department of Gastroenterology, Liaquat National Hospital, Karachi, from April 2010 to April 2015.

METHODOLOGY: All patients underwent ERCP procedure under midazolam and/or nalbuphine were included. Safety was assessed by monitoring the hemodynamics and complications during procedure till discharge from hospital. SPSS version 20 was used for descriptive analysis.

RESULTS: A total of 550 procedures were enrolled for the study. The mean age of the patients was 50.85 ±15.66 years. There were 197 (35.8%) males. Out of 550 procedures, only 2 (0.4%) reported complications. The study reports a success rate of 531 (96.5%) procedures who underwent ERCP with conscious sedation. Only 19 (3.5%) cases could not be completed successfully under conscious sedation and were converted to general aneasthesia.

CONCLUSION: The present study shows that ERCP technique is safe under conscious sedation as it delivers balanced tranquillity.