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  1. Ian R Appadurai,
  2. Raymond J Delicta,
  3. P Declan Carey
  1. Lecturer in anaesthetics Research fellow in surgery Senior lecturer in surgery University of Wales College of Medicine, Cardiff CF4 4XN

    Attention to sedation techniques may reduce mortality

    EDITOR,--J E Charlton draws attention to the estimated overall death rate of 1 in 2000 from upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, which is usually performed under sedation or local anaesthesia, or both.1 When compared with the overall mortality solely attributable to anaesthesia, which is 1 in 185000,2 this mortality seems unacceptably high.

    Recommendations for standards of sedation and for monitoring patients during gastrointestinal endoscopy were published by the British Society of Gastroenterology in 1991,3 …

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