Reply to Dr. Lapeyre: Duration of Esophagogastroduodenoscopy Procedures

We very much appreciate the letter from Dr. B. Lapeyre, stating his view that the duration of unsedated esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) procedures has an important impact on patients’ tolerance of them. Our data do not support this hypothesis. As we reported, sedation became necessary in 44 % of all conventional EGD procedures. In 86.4 % of these cases (19 of 22 patients), sedation was administered at the patient’s request shortly after insertion of the endoscope. Only 13.6 % of the patients (three of 22) received sedation for the first time at a later stage of EGD [1].