A study at 10 medical centers of the safety and efficacy of 48 flexible sigmoidoscopies and 8 colonoscopies during pregnancy with follow-up of fetal outcome and with comparison to control groups

To analyze the risks versus benefits of flexible sigmoidoscopy and colonoscopy to the pregnant female and fetus, we conducted a multiyear, retrospective study at 10 hospitals of 46 patients undergoing 48 sigmoidoscopies and 8 patients undergoing 8 colonoscopies during pregnancy. Sigmoidoscopy controls included two study control groups and the average American pregnancy outcomes. Sigmoidoscopy indications included hematochezia in 28, diarrhea in 10, abdominal pain in 4, and other in 3. Thirteen patients were in the first trimester of pregnancy, 18 were in the second trimester, and 15 were in the third trimester. Twenty-seven patients had a lesion diagnosed by sigmoidoscopy, including reactivated or newly diagnosed inflammatory bowel disease, bleeding internal hemorrhoids, and other colitidies. Twenty-two of 29 patients with rectal bleeding had a significant lesion identified by sigmoidoscopy. Sigmoidoscopy was significantly more frequently diagnostic for hematochezia than for other indications (p < 0.03, ²). No endoscopic complications occurred to the pregnant patients. Excluding 4 voluntary abortions and 1 unknown pregnancy outcome, 38 (93%) of 41 pregnant females delivered healthy babies (study control rate=93%; NS, Fisher's exact test). Mean live-born infant Apgar scores were 8.2 ± 1.5 (SD) at 1 min and 9.0 ± 0.2 at 5 min (control mean Apgar scores: 8.1 ± 1.7 at 1 min and 8.8 ± 1.0 at 5 min; NS, Student'st test). Three high-risk pregnancies ended with fetal demise at 8, 9, or 12 weeks after sigmoidoscopy, from causes unrelated to sigmoidoscopy. No fetal cardiac abnormalities were detected by fetal cardiac monitoring during two sigmoidoscopies. Eight pregnant females underwent colonoscopy, without complications. Pregnancy outcomes included six healthy babies delivered at full term, one voluntary abortion, and one fetal demise in a high-risk pregnancy 4 months after colonoscopy from causes unrelated to colonoscopy. This study suggests that sigmoidoscopy does not induce labor or result in congenital malformations, that sigmoidoscopy is not contraindicated during pregnancy, and that sigmoidoscopy may be beneficial in pregnant patients with significant lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Colonoscopy during pregnancy should be considered for life-threatening lower gastrointestinal bleeding or when the only alternative is surgery.A preliminary version of this paper was presented orally at the Annual Convention of the American Gastroenterology Association on May 15, 1995, in San Diego, California (1).