New Equipment Helps Endoscopy Clinic Catch Up on COVID-19 Backlog

During the coronavirus pandemic, many British Columbians have been focused on washing their hands, maintaining proper physical distance, baking banana bread and figuring out proper Zoom etiquette.

But even in a pandemic, people still need regular medical care, treatment and diagnosis.

That’s why a host of much needed new equipment for Langley Memorial Hospital’s endoscopy clinic, purchased through donations to Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation, is a massive boon to staff and patients.

The clinic, which performs 4,500-5,000 colonoscopy procedures each year as well as upper and lower gastrointestinal scopes, had for years been operating with the oldest suite of scopes in the Fraser Health region.

Thanks to a generous outpouring of support in 2019, donors funded the purchase of:

Five colonoscopes

One portable video processor

Two gastroscopes

Three Welch Allyn Connex 6700 Vital Signs Monitors

One argon beam system

“This equipment is highly important for us to be able to provide better, improved care to clinic patients,” says Dr. Scott Cowie, who heads the endoscopy clinic team at Langley Memorial.

As well, the new equipment will help Dr. Cowie and his staff deal with the fresh backlog of patients needing care caused when the COVID-19 pandemic forced the clinic to temporarily suspend service to all but the most urgent outpatients.

With the clinic now back up and running full time, Dr. Cowie says it will take some time to address that backlog. (continues on next page)

Proactive screening remains as important as ever, Dr. Cowie notes, as the rates of colorectal cancer are rising in young people and continue to be high for the aging population.

“It is always important to pay attention to your body, and if you notice something has changed or is different it never hurts to get it checked out,” he says, noting screening can help prevent more serious problems later.

Because of COVID-19, the clinic has enhanced its safety protocols, including screening outpatients for potential symptoms and not bringing in anyone who has been in contact with a reported COVID-19 case.

A new challenge posed by the pandemic is dealing with endoscopy procedures that are considered aerosol-generating, meaning they create ‘mists’ of droplets or particles that can travel and be suspended in the air for several hours.

“As a result, we have to take additional precautions – full PPE, full disinfecting and sterilizing of everything and the room has to be decontaminated before you open the door – which means waiting in the room for an hour for the air exchange,” Dr. Cowie explains. “You can’t really run much of a unit like that.”

To help address the issue, Dr. Cowie and his team asked the Foundation to support the purchase of a portable video processor, which will give the team the flexibility to use other hospital procedure rooms with better air exchange.

“We then only have to wait for 15 minutes, not an hour, which really improves the timing and the flow of patients,” he says.

“This gives us a greater capacity to help patient care and comfort, and it will help us catch up on this wait list.”

Clinic staff often have to deal with people who are suffering from gastrointestinal bleeding – sometimes hemorrhaging badly – and Dr. Cowie says the new argon beam system is a massive help in treating those patients.

The argon beam system is a form of electrocautery that allows doctors to ‘paint’ fairly broad areas of bleeding tissue by sending electrical currents to cauterize the area.

“Without the beam, we would have to rely on other techniques that were not as helpful, and most times we would have to transfer the patient to another hospital – something we’ve been trying to avoid during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he says. “This new equipment allows us to minimize travel for patients. We can address their issues here and not send them to another specialist and maybe several more procedures elsewhere. It’s so much better for the community and for keeping people closer to home.”

Dr. Cowie and his team cannot stress enough what a huge help the new equipment is to the clinic and how grateful they are to Langley Memorial Hospital Foundation’s donors.

“We need the equipment to do our job properly, and we view it as a privilege that our community recognizes what we’re doing,” he says.

“Seeing the material support is really nice. I think people in Langley should be proud of their community.”