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Non-Obstetric Surgery During Pregnancy pp 155–164Cite as

Upper and Lower Endoscopy for Gastrointestinal (GI) Bleeding in Pregnancy

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Abstract

Each year, more than 12,000 US pregnant women are in need of upper endoscopy, and around 6000 have conditions that may require lower endoscopy for evaluation. Despite this large number of endoscopic procedures performed in the USA in pregnant women, research in this area is limited, and the safety of their performance needs further review. Of note, the spectrum of gastrointestinal disease in the pregnant patient is very similar to that in nonpregnant women, but common causes of gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) in the acute setting may be different.

In general, gastroenterologists and obstetricians agree that endoscopic procedures during pregnancy should be performed with great caution and with weighing of risks and potential benefits given their risk of maternal hypoxemia and hypotension resulting in harm to the mother as well as fetal hypoxia and even fetal death. This risk involves both the procedure itself and the risk of the actual sedatives required during the various endoscopic procedures as we outline below. Other risks include but are not limited to intrauterine exposure of the fetus to radiation with risk of premature birth, malformations, mutations, and even intrauterine fetal death. Despite the risk of endoscopic procedures, however, there are instances where various endoscopic therapies and procedures are indicated, and these are discussed in the chapter and categorized by type of procedure performed by gastroenterologists.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Washington DC VA Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA

    Atoosa Rabiee

  2. Department of Gastroenterology, Carolinas Healthcare System, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Baharak Moshiree

Authors
  1. Atoosa Rabiee
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  2. Baharak Moshiree
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Nezhat Medical Center, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Ceana H. Nezhat

  2. Department of Surgery, Northeast Ohio Medical University, Youngstown, OH, USA

    Michael S. Kavic

  3. School of Dental Medicine, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Raymond J. Lanzafame

  4. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Michael K. Lindsay

  5. Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, LAC+USC Medical Center, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Travis M. Polk

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Rabiee, A., Moshiree, B. (2019). Upper and Lower Endoscopy for Gastrointestinal (GI) Bleeding in Pregnancy. In: Nezhat, C., Kavic, M., Lanzafame, R., Lindsay, M., Polk, T. (eds) Non-Obstetric Surgery During Pregnancy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90752-9_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90752-9_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-90751-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-90752-9

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