In the last decades gastrointestinal endoscopy has become a commonly used minimal invasive procedure in the clinical practice. Based on the different complexity level of the operative endoscopic procedures the role of sedation is getting increasingly relevant.
Sedation is a drug induced consciousness depression which aim is to relieve patientââ¬â¢s anxiety and pain, and to induce amnesia of the intervention in order to improve the examinationââ¬â¢s outcome and the patientââ¬â¢s compliace.
Sedation may be classified in four stages: minimal, moderate, deep sedation and general anesthesia; they correspond to different stages of consciousness, airway protective reflexes and respiratory function impairment. Since the operatory field is shared with the endoscopist, a dedicated airway management is mandatory when deep sedation or general anesthesia are necessary.