ABSTRACT
Aims In March 2020, COVID-19 has been declared as a pandemic, resulting in modulation of endoscopic activity andenhancement of personal protective equipment (PPE) when performing colonoscopy. Recently, it has been shown that suchPPE interferes with visual and auditory perception. Our aim was to evaluate if PPE may negatively impact colonoscopyquality. Methods Cross-sectional retrospective study comparing colonoscopy quality indicators between elective outpatient non-therapeutic colonoscopies performed between April and May 2019 and 2020 (lockdown period). We included patients aged > 50 years old and excluded patients with inflammatory bowel disease, history of colon surgery or cancer (CRC). 300colonoscopies were randomly and evenly selected from the two groups. Cecal intubation rate (CIR), adenoma detection rate(ADR), mean number of polyps, adenomas and serrated sessile lesions (SSL) per colonoscopy were assessed andcompared. Results Groups were similar regarding gender, mean age and exam indication. Indications for colonoscopy were classifiedas screening (25 % vs 22 %), diagnosis (41 % vs 48 %) and post-polypectomy surveillance (33 % vs 29 %). There was nosignificant difference in CIR (90 % vs 88 %), adequate bowel preparation (70.5 % vs 70.6 %, p = 0.970) and procedureduration. Polyp, adenoma and SSL detection rates were similar in both groups (66.7 % vs 66.7 %, p = 0.999;57.4 % vs 51.4 %, p = 0.609;5.5 % vs 9.5 %, p 0.173). There was no difference in the mean number of polyps and adenomas. For polyps < 5 mm the mean number was lower in 2020 (1.59 vs 1.09, p = 0,028). There was no difference in high-risk patients (19.3 %vs 21.1 % (p = 0.143) and CRC (4.7 % vs 2 %, p = 0.335). The ADR difference remained non-significant, after adjusting(multivariate analysis) for bowel preparation, intubation detection rate, endoscopist and exam duration. Conclusions In our study, the use of PPE did not influence key performance measures of colonoscopy quality.