Abstract

Background and Aims: There remains a lack of consensus on which gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures should be performed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and which procedures could be safely deferred without significantly impacting outcomes.Methods: We selected a panel of 14 expert endoscopists. We identified 41 common indications for advanced endoscopic procedures from the ASGE Appropriate Use of GI Endoscopy guidelines. Using a modified Delphi method, we first achieved consensus on patient-important outcome for each procedural indication. Panelists prioritized consensus patient-important outcome when categorizing each indication into one of the following 3 procedural time periods: (1) time-sensitive emergent (schedule within 1 week), (2) time-sensitive urgent (schedule within 1 to 8 weeks), and (3) non-time sensitive (defer for >8 weeks and then reassess the timing). Three anonymous rounds of voting were allowed before attempts at consensus were abandoned.Results: All 14 invited experts agreed to participate in the study. The prespecified consensus threshold of 51% was achieved for assigning patient-important outcome/s to each advanced endoscopy indication. The prespecified consensus threshold of 66.7% was achieved for 40 out of 41 advanced endoscopy indications in stratifying them into 1 of 3 procedural time periods. For 12 out of 41 indications 100% consensus, and for 20 out of 41 indications 75% to 99% consensus was achieved.Conclusions: By using a Modified Delphi method that prioritized patient-important outcomes, we developed consensus recommendations on procedural timing for common indications for advanced endoscopy. These recommendations and the structured decision framework provided by our study can inform decision-making as endoscopy services are reopened.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.gie.2020.05.014

View details for PubMedID 32425235