the complications of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy in patients referring to semnan fatemiah hospital during 1991-2001

introduction: therapeutic and diagnostic endoscopy applied generally all over the world and iran is no exception in this regard. this method like all invasive methods probably have potential danger on patients. the aim of this study was to determine the rate of complications of upper gastrointestinal endoscopies (uge) in  patients referring to semnan fatemiah hospital during 1991-2001. materials and methods: this study is a discriptive-crossctional one, in which during a decade, all patients who referred to the fatemiah hospital (25820 cases) for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were selected and despite of recording their demographic data, their edndoscopy complications were evaluated. results: data analysis indicated that the rate for complications in all patients who experienced uge was 0.116% in which 0.073% belonged to gastroscopy (0.058% without biopsy and 0.015% with biopsy) including mallory wise (0.026% mocosal perforation of stumach and esophagus), 0.015% mandibular joint dislocation, 0.015% cardiopulmonary arrest, 0.002% instrument obstruction, 0.001% bleeding and 0.014% for the rest, including other perforation, seizure, hallucination, lichen planus, epistaxy, aspiration, methemoglobinemia, while the rate for complication in therapeutic endoscopies was 0.019% which included  0.015% for sclerotherapy and 0.004% for polypectomy. finally the rate for mortality was 0.023%. conclusion: the findings showed that endoscopies like all invasive methods may have potentials dangers on patients. therefore in order to prevent the complications related to employing endoscopies, caution should be exercised in employing appropriate techniques and experienced endoscopists.