The impact of face shields on the quality of gastrointestinal endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic

In December 2019, an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detected in a cluster of patients with respiratory tract infection of unknown etiology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China [1]. In February 2020, the World Health Organization named the infection due to SARS-CoV-2 as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic in March 2020 [2]. COVID-19 is mainly transmitted through droplets, aerosols, and via direct contact; therefore, healthcare workers are at a higher risk of exposure to COVID-19 than the general population [3, 4]. Fecal-to-oral transmission may also be a route of COVID-19 infection [5]; therefore, endoscopic procedures increase the risk of COVID-19 transmission. The World Endoscopy Organization, the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the American Gastroenterological Association, the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and the Asian Pacific Society for Digestive Endoscopy have made several recommendations for clinicians to follow during the COVID-19 pandemic that include assessing the risk of COVID-19 to determine when to perform an endoscopy and recommending that all endoscopists wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to prevent COVID-19 transmission [6‐10]. PPE includes an isolation gown, disposable gloves, a mask, and a face shield or goggles. A face shield is used for protection of the facial area from exposure to infectious agents. Many protective devices had previously been used during endoscopy, but face shields had not been used prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Colonoscopy is the gold standard method for the screening and diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) [11, 12]. However, poor quality colonoscopy can lead to post-colonoscopy CRC (PCCRC) [13]. An increased adenoma detection rate (ADR) has been reported to reduce the risk of PCCRC and CRC-related mortality [14, 15]. The resolution of the colonoscope is known to affect the ADR [16, 17]. High resolution provides clear images, making it easy to detect abnormalities in the colonic mucosa. The sharpness of the screen is an important factor influencing the ADR during colonoscopy [18]. Since the face shield is a device worn in front of the eyes, the visual field of the user observing the screen may be affected. Compared with colonoscopy, there are few useful indicators to evaluate the quality of upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy. We evaluated the complete resection rate (CRR) in gastric endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) as a quality indicator in upper GI endoscopy. ESD is a widely accepted treatment for early gastric cancer or gastric adenoma. Accurate delineation of margins is necessary for complete resection of gastric neoplasms [19, 20]. However, this requires precise observation, and there has been concern that wearing a face shield may affect accurate delineation. Few studies have reported the effect of face shields on the quality of GI endoscopy; therefore, we aimed to determine whether the use of a face shield affected GI endoscopy quality.

This single-center retrospective study aimed to determine whether the use of a face shield affected the quality of GI endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that performing endoscopic procedures while wearing a face shield did not affect the quality indicators of GI endoscopy. In addition, the proficiency of both experienced endoscopists and trainee endoscopists was not affected by the use of face shields.

As the number of endoscopic procedures performed increases, occupation-associated health hazards for endoscopists have increased, one of which is exposure to infection [22]. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, endoscopists have been at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 from airborne droplets and conjunctival contact. Because human-to-human transmission occurs primarily through direct contact or air droplets, upper GI endoscopy may be a procedure that increases the risk of COVID-19 infection due to patients coughing during the examination [7, 23]. The live SARS-CoV-2 virus has also been found in patient stools, and fecal–oral transmission of COVID-19 is also possible [5, 24]. Therefore, colonoscopy is likely to be a procedure involving an increased risk of COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, patients with COVID-19 can present clinically with atypical GI symptoms; therefore, endoscopy may be performed on an undiagnosed, infected patient with COVID-19, thereby further increasing the risk of COVID-19 transmission [25].

One study that quantified the rate of unrecognized exposure to potentially infectious biologic samples during endoscopy via an endoscopist’s face reported that facial exposure may result in transmission of infectious diseases [26]. According to previous studies conducted in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, 19% of healthcare workers who wore masks and gloves and who performed hand hygiene without additional facial protection were infected with COVID-19, but those who used additional facial protection were not infected [27, 28]. For these reasons, it is important that endoscopists wear a face shield along with isolation gowns, gloves, and a mask throughout endoscopic procedures during this COVID-19 pandemic.

However, wearing a face shield may affect the observation capacity of endoscopists during procedures. Previous studies have reported that the ADR was affected by the resolution and visual field of the colonoscopy [16‐18]. Observing adenomas is relatively uncomplicated when a screen is clear and the visual field is wide. However, concerns may be raised regarding whether the wearing of a face shield affects clarity or the visual field during colonoscopy and thus reduces the ADR. Therefore, we aimed to determine whether wearing a face shield affected endoscopists’ performance and whether the procedure time subsequently increased or whether the withdrawal time subsequently decreased. During our study period, Lee et al. reported that colonoscopy performance was not unfavorably affected when wearing a face shield [29]. We also found that wearing a face shield did not affect the quality indicators of colonoscopy, including the ADR. However, our study differed from Lee et al.’s study in that we analyzed quality indicators concerning both lower and upper GI endoscopy. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiography was excluded from our analysis because wearing goggles had been recommended prior to the COVID-19 pandemic due to ocular radiation exposure [22, 30]. We evaluated the CRR in gastric ESD as a quality indicator in upper GI endoscopy. Inaccurate diagnosis of tumor margins might cause incomplete resection with a positive margin for tumor cells and local recurrence [19, 20, 31]. Therefore, gastric neoplasm demarcation evaluated visually must be very precise. High-resolution endoscopy, magnifying endoscopy, indigocarmine chromoendoscopy, and NBI are used to increase the accuracy of tumor demarcation [31‐35]. Therefore, there may be concerns regarding whether the wearing of a face shield affects clarity or the visual field during gastric ESD and thus decreases the accuracy of tumor demarcation and reduces the CRR. In this study, we found that wearing a face shield did not reduce the accuracy of tumor demarcation or delay the procedure time.

This study had some limitations. When a face shield is worn, light may be reflected on the face shield and interfere with the endoscopist’s visual field. In our hospital’s endoscopy room, the lights were turned off, with only the screen of the video processor being turned on, and no direct sunlight. However, while the lighting or brightness of the endoscopy room and the position of the screen may reflect light on the face shield, these effects are likely to differ between endoscopy rooms. In this study, the effects of these differences on the GI quality indicators were not analyzed. Moreover, in this study, the effect of only one type of face shield was investigated. Since various types of face shields are available, their effects on the quality indicators of GI endoscopy may differ. This was a retrospective study of medical records; therefore, it had inherent limitations. In our hospital, endoscopy is required to be performed in strict accordance with guideline recommendations; however, as this was a retrospective study, we could not confirm whether these recommendations were followed or not for some of the patients. However, according to an investigation carried out among our hospital staff, adherence to wearing facial protection was > 95% during the period; therefore, we consider that this limitation did not significantly affect our results. Our results, obtained through examining patient medical records within a short period of time during which facial protection recommendations were strictly followed, are likely to be of value in understanding the effects of changes implemented in response to an unprecedented and globally threatening pandemic.

Experts and medical societies have provided guidelines for the management of COVID-19 infection, and medical workers are required to follow such guidelines to prevent droplet or air transmission. The same management guidelines are also applied when working in the endoscopy room, and the wearing of PPE, including facial protection, is essential for endoscopists [6‐10]. However, even when guidelines are strictly followed, endoscopists can experience fear and reluctance to perform endoscopies due to the risk of contracting COVID-19. One study found that gastroenterologists were less fearful of contracting acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) approximately six years after the first study about fears of AIDS [36]. This finding indicates that in the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic era, more research and advances in treatment for COVID-19 are needed to help alleviate endoscopists’ fears. Further studies are also needed to determine whether wearing a face shield is necessary for the prevention of other infections without degrading the quality indicators of colonoscopy, even after the COVID-19 pandemic has ended.

Quality indicators of GI endoscopy were not affected due to the wearing of face shields during the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional use of face shields to prevent COVID-19 transmission did not reduce the quality of GI endoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic.