Can Air Suctioning During Colonoscopy Reduce Bacterial Air Contamination?

Infections resulting from endoscopy are rare but could be underreported. No studies have yet explored the extent to which aerosolized bacteria are released during colonoscopy, nor whether air suctioning can prevent such releases.

To explore this issue, investigators in Switzerland tested air quality in an endoscopy suite in which 50 patients underwent elective colonoscopy. Researchers collected 50 L of air for 30 seconds at a distance of 30 cm from the biopsy channel valve of the colonoscope during forceps removal, which occurred twice during each procedure. The first forceps removal was performed without air suctioning and the second with air suctioning.

At the beginning of the day, the median bioaerosol burden in the endoscopy suite was 4 c…