Serious adverse events probably or possibly related to colonoscopy and their outcomes
| Serious adverse event | No. of patients with event* | Outcome; no. of patients | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repeat colonoscopy | Surgery | Death | ||
| Perforation† | 48 | 1 | 41 | 1 |
| Bleeding | 203 | 102 | 4 | 0 |
| Post-polypectomy syndrome‡ | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bowel preparation§ | 12 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| Splenic injury | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cardiovascular¶ | 16 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Respiratory** | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Other†† | 31 | 2 | 9 | 1 |
| Total | 332 | 108 | 60 | 2 |
↵* In each row, the sum of values for outcomes is less than the number of patients with the event because some patients had no or multiple interventions related to the adverse event.
↵† Includes 1 patient with post-polypectomy bleeding who sustained a perforation as a complication of endoscopic therapy during repeat colonoscopy.
↵‡ Abdominal pain, fever, peritoneal signs without perforation following colonoscopy and polypectomy.
↵§ Serious adverse events that occurred during preparation, before colonoscopy: vomiting (n = 6), hematemesis (n = 2), arrythmia (n = 1), fall (n = 1), seizure (n = 1), worsening renal function requiring dialysis (n = 1).
↵¶ Cardiac event (acute coronary syndrome [n = 7] or arrythmia [n = 4]), cerebrovascular event (n = 2), thromboembolic event (n = 2), abdominal aortic dissection (n = 1).
↵** Pneumonia (n = 1), hypoxia (n = 2).
↵†† Includes infection (n = 6), small-bowel obstruction (n = 3), fall (n = 2), diverticulitis (n = 2), acute kidney injury (n = 2), appendicitis (n = 1), large-bowel obstruction (n = 1), hemorrhoids (n = 1), seizure (n = 1), hospital admission for various other symptoms and no clear diagnosis (n = 11). In addition, 1 patient died at home.