Endoscopic smoke poses ‘significant health risk’ to surgeons

Gastrointestinal procedures that generate high levels of smoke pose significant health risks to operating room personnel.

This is according to a recent study that suggests endoscopic smoke has the toxic equivalent of one cigarette per procedure over the course of a career.

Trent Walradt, a research fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and lead author of the study, explained: "Surgeons in the operating room have regulations and guidelines to mitigate smoke exposure, but that does not exist for gastrointestinal endoscopy. When you’re using cautery, it generates a smoke plume. We wanted to know whether the smoke produced during some of our endoscopic procedures is dangerous."

The results were presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2024 in Washington, US.

Staff at risk included those attending certain smoke-producing endoscopic gastrointestinal procedures, including a procedure that uses electrical current to remove polyps.

Chris Thompson, director of endoscopy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and principal investigator, said: "Over the course of a career, endoscopic smoke may pose significant health risks to personnel in the endoscopy suite. If you're doing four or five procedures a day, that’s five cigarettes a day. Over the course of a week, it’s like you're smoking a pack of cigarettes. That's not acceptable."

He added: "We’re in the early phases of this, but I think our findings are very important and, quite frankly, a little concerning and surprising."

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Source: Surgery, 25 June 2024