Effect of Lateral Versus Supine Positions on Postoperative Hypoxemia in Patients Undergoing Painless Gastroscopy and Colonoscopy: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Study
Using prospective real-world data, this study aims to determine whether the lateral decubitus position reduces the incidence of post-procedure hypoxemia in patients undergoing painless gastroscopy/colonoscopy, thereby providing a simple, non-invasive, and low-cost optimization strategy for clinical practice.
• Age ≥ 18 years.
• Both sexes.
• American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification I-III.
• Scheduled for combined painless esophagogastroduodenoscopy/colonoscopy or either of the two procedures.
• Ability to understand the study protocol and provide written informed consent.
• A broad set of inclusion criteria was adopted to enroll a patient population that better reflects routine clinical practice. The study aimed to enhance the generalizability of the findings by including patients with various comorbidities, such as preprocedural hypoxemia (room-air SpO₂ ≤ 90%), history of pulmonary surgery, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and other pulmonary conditions (including asthma, COPD, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and pulmonary bullae).