After years of research, debate, and Food and Drug Administration review, the federal agency will allow nonanesthesia professionals to use a device that administers sedation during colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy procedures, provided that certain requirements are met. Increasingly, a colonoscopy team includes not just a gastroenterologist, but also an anesthesiologist. Not content with conscious sedation achieved through a combination of intravenous drugs, more patients and gastroenterologists are opting for deep sedation that only an anesthesia professional can deliver.
That scenario is about to change. After years of research, debate, and Food and Drug Administration review, the SEDASYS system is now available. The device, the federal agency states, will allow nonanesthesia professionals to administer propofol during colonoscopy and esophagogastroduodenoscopy procedures “provided they have training that meets the requirements and in settings having immediate availability of an anesthesia professional as defined in the labeling.”
