It’s everyone’s worst nightmare to go in for a routine test only to find that he or she is now worse off than before, yet that’s exactly what happened at VA hospitals in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; Augusta, Georgia; and Miami, Florida. Out of 10,000 patients who had colon cancer screening, 6 veterans tested positive for HIV, 34 tested positive for hepatitis C and 13 tested positive for hepatitis B following their routine procedures. One could argue these people may have needed a hepatitis treatment prior to their colonoscopy treatments; that these were just isolated incidents. However, there are a few risks of colonoscopy procedures that should be discussed beforehand.
The most common side effect of colonoscopy procedures is nothing more than a little bloating and distension. Some patients feel lightheaded, fatigued or nauseous from the sedative. Cramping and abdominal pain are likely if any colon polyps were nicked off. Patients must have a chaperone and may not return to work, drive or operate heavy machinery following the exam. Many individuals say the worst part of the whole process is the colonoscopy prep, where they have to take medications intended to flush their system, leaving them in the bathroom constantly for nearly 8 hours.
In a 2005-2006 study, 110 patients in Chapel Hill, North Carolina were asked about the side effects from their colonoscopy procedures. Of the 110, 17% of the patients reported side effects from their screening colonoscopy process, which included abdominal pain, cramping, vomiting, lightheadedness, sharp pains in the right hip and fatigue. On average, people spent 21 hours prepping for the procedure, which involved 16.5 hours flushing their system, 0.8 hours traveling, 1.4 hours in the waiting room, 12 minutes undergoing sedation, 20 minutes for their colonoscopy procedure and 47 minutes of on-site recovery.
In a 2006 study by the Northern California Kaiser Permanente health system, there are certain complications of colonoscopy procedures that are “not at all uncommon.” The overall incidence for complications was 5 in 1,000. Among the 5,235 procedures that did not involve biopsies, complications were 0.8/1,000 and the incidence of perforations was 0.6/1,000. However, of the 11,083 colonoscopy procedures that involved removal of colon polyps and tissue, the risk of complications jumped to 7/1,000. The incidence of bleeding was 4.8/1,000 patients and the risk of perforation was 1.1 per 1,000 patients.