Endoscopy

Endoscopy means looking inside and typically refers to looking inside the body for medical reasons using an endoscope, an instrument used to examine the interior of a hollow organ or cavity of the body. Unlike most other medical imaging devices, endoscopes are inserted directly into the organ. Endoscope can also refer to using a borescope in technical situations where direct line of-sight observation is not feasible.

Doctors will often recommend endoscopy to evaluate:

• Stomach pain
• Ulcers,gastritis , or difficulty swallowing
• Digestive tract bleeding
• Changes in bowel habits (chronic constipation or diarrhea)
• polyps or growths in the colon

In addition, your doctor may use an endoscope to take a biopsy (removal of tissue) to look for the presence of disease.

Endoscopy may also be used to treat a digestive tract problem. For example, the endoscope might not only detect active bleeding from an ulcer, but devices can be passed through the endoscope that can stop the bleeding. In the colon, polyps can be removed through the scope to prevent the development of colon cancer.

Also, using ERCP, gallstones that have passed outside the gallbladder and into the bile duct can be removed.

Overall, endoscopy is very safe; however, the procedure does have a few potential complications, which may include

• Perforation (tear in the gut wall)
• Reaction to sedation
• Infection
• Bleeding
• Pancreatitis as a result of ERCP