“Can local anesthesia be used for endoscopy?”

If you mean an upper endoscopy otherwise known as an EGD (Esophagogastroduodenoscopy, you certainly can have it done awake. However, the anesthesia will be in a thick liquid form, viscous lidocaine jelly which you will have to gargle with and then swallow to numb the rest of your esophagus. It is doable, but you have to be able to swallow a "hose" and breathe around it comfortably. I am not even sure if your GI doctor would entertain you having this done awake with a numb throat. But is it possible, yes. It is done this way in other countries where anesthesia care is more limited. Keep in mind that once the scope is down, it sometimes has to be removed and reinserted. If you are curious if you could have some pain during the procedure, yes it is possible. Good luck if you go this route, I have not seen this done without other drugs on board.

You can have topical spray anesthesia to numb the back of the throat for an endoscopy, but usually IV sedation is given.