Complications related to colonoscopy include, but are not limited to, the following: Continued bleeding after biopsy (tissue sample) or polyp removal. Nausea, vomiting, bloating or rectal irritation caused by the procedure or by the preparatory bowel cleansing.
Most colonoscopy adverse events occur within 7 days, but even more occur beyond the 7-day period.
You may feel bloated or pass gas for a few hours after the exam, as you clear the air from your colon. Walking may help relieve any discomfort. You may also notice a small amount of blood with your first bowel movement after the exam. Usually this isn't cause for alarm.
Observe the patient closely for signs of bowel perforation.
Signs of bowel perforations such as severe abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills must be reported immediately.
Bleeding is one of the most common complications of colonoscopy, accounting for 0.3-6.1% of cases[35,36].
Once the procedure is over, the patient will need about 30-60 minutes to recover from the sedation before getting dressed and leaving the building. As a last step before leaving, the doctor will review what he or she found during the colonoscopy and discuss next steps, if there are any.
After a colonoscopy, eat foods that are soft and easy to digest to ease side effects such as bloating or gas. This may include eggs, white toast, and applesauce for breakfast. For lunch or dinner, choices could include lean chicken without skin, mashed potatoes, and soft-cooked carrots.
Up to one-third of patients experience abdominal pain, nausea, or bloating afterward, which may last hours to several days. Fortunately, severe complications including hemorrhage, perforation, and death are rare, with a total incidence of 0.28%.
They found that bacterial infections, such as E. coli and Klebsiella, occur at the following rates: 1 in 1000 people after screening colonoscopies. 1.6 in 1000 people after nonscreening colonoscopies.
This research, the first to explore data on ASCs and postprocedure infection, revealed that the rate of infection seven or fewer days after the procedure was slightly higher than 1 in 1,000 for screening colonoscopies and about 1.6 per 1,000 for nonscreening colonoscopies.
However, as with any medical procedure, complications are possible (although rare). Studies estimate the overall risk of complications for routine colonoscopy to be low, about 1.6%.
Patients who present with abdominal pain and fever after colonoscopy may have acute cholecystitis, especially if the liver function tests are also abnormal. These patients usually present within 72 hours of the procedure.
After the test, you may be bloated or have gas pains. You may need to pass gas. If a biopsy was done or a polyp was removed, you may have streaks of blood in your stool (feces) for a few days. Problems such as heavy rectal bleeding may not occur until several weeks after the test.
One-third of the patients experienced MAEs, most prominently in the first 1–2 weeks after colonoscopy, and less common at 30 days post colonoscopy. The most frequently reported MAEs were abdominal pain, bloating and abdominal discomfort.
Colonoscopies performed in the afternoon (PM) have been shown to have lower adenoma detection rates (ADR) compared to those in the morning (AM). Endoscopist fatigue has been suggested as a possible reason. Colonoscopies tend to be technically more challenging in female patients.
Fatty, rich foods and those with a high fiber content, for instance, should be avoided. These foods are healthy options to enjoy for about a day after your procedure: Applesauce. Yogurt.
Your doctor may recommend that you eat sparingly, or not at all, in the hours immediately following the procedure. For the rest of that day and the day after, you'll be advised to drink lots of fluid and to eat soft, easily digestible foods which won't irritate your colon.
Drink plenty of fluids to replace the ones lost during bowel preparation. Avoid heavy lifting or strenuous activity. Do not drive or operate heavy machinery for 24 hours. Even if you feel OK, sedatives can slow reaction times and take 24 hours to fully clear your body.
The only way to be sure that a colon polyp has cancer is to remove the polyp and look at it under a microscope. But a colonoscopy may show some signs that there may be cancer.
The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy estimates that only three in 1,000 colonoscopies leads to serious complications. But even when serious complications arise, it is exceedingly rare that they are life-threatening, and doctors are well-trained to treat any complications with proven methods.
Physicians should therefore suspect a CP if a patient has fever, abdominal pain or distention following the colonoscopic examination, even if the patient presents with these symptoms several days after the procedure.
Completely preventable cancer
Here's what we know: As often as 40% of the time, a precancerous polyp — frequently a type called an adenoma — is found during a screening colonoscopy. Colon cancer is found during only in about 40 out of 10,000 screening colonoscopies, Dr. Sand said.
Although colonoscopy-induced diverticulitis is a rare finding, it is important to consider it as a complication in patients with symptoms after colonoscopy. Potential causes of post-colonoscopy diverticulitis include barotrauma, multiple attempts for intubation, and direct pressure of the scope.