Effectiveness of screening using loop-mediated isothermal amplification before endoscopy during the coronavirus disease pandemic

Abstract

The ongoing coronavirus disease (COVID19) pandemic has resulted in substantial delay in patients receiving timely medical examinations, Further, a rise in the number of cancer-related deaths in the long run and deterioration of the healthcare system are growing concerns. To perform routine endoscopy, the Japanese Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy recommends to consider testing for infection as a preventive measure. However, reports on COVID19 screening tests before the endoscopy are limited. Therefore, in this report, we attempted to screen for COVID19 using loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) among patients scheduled to undergo upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at Chiba Nishi General Hospital. We investigated whether publicizing this information on the website would have the effect of discourage people from undergoing medical checkups and whether this screening method was cost-effective. We found that the number of endoscopies in 2020 did not decrease significantly under the third wave when compared with that in 2019 (P>0.01). Further, this method helped identify two asymptomatic infected individuals. Therefore, screening using LAMP is cost-effective.