These days a lot of people need to go through an endoscopy. This is completely a non-surgical procedure that is done to examine the digestive tract of an individual.
The equipment that is used to do the test is a flexible tube which is also known as the endoscope. They are available at the endoscopy equipment manufacturers and they have a camera and a light attached at the end of it. This can help the doctor to view the pictures of the digestive tract and they are clearly visible on the TV monitor there in front of the doctor.
When there is an upper endoscopy happening, then the endoscope equipment is easily passed through the mouth of the patient and the throat and then it reaches the oesophagus. Once it reaches there then the doctor can get a clear view of the stomach, oesophagus and the upper part of the small intestine. Apart from the upper part, this endoscope can also be passed to the large intestine which is also known as the colon. This is passed through the rectum and this can examine the other areas of the intestine. This process is named as the colonoscopy as because the colon is examined here.
There is also another kind of endoscopy which is of a special kind and it is known as the endoscopic retrograde. This is also known as the ERCP and it gives the doctor the clear pictures of gallbladder, pancreas and stent placements. There is an endoscopic ultrasound where also the doctors can examine the different parts of the digestive tract by getting clear images of them.
But why one needs to do an endoscopy? Here are some major reasons:
- Ulcers, gastritis, or difficulty swallowing
- Stomach pain
- Digestive tract bleeding
- Polyps or growths in the colon
- Changes in bowel habits or chronic constipation or diarrhoea
Sometimes, endoscopy can also be done to get into the depth of the digestive tract issues. They not only can detect whether there is a bleeding happening from ulcer but there can be some devices that can be passed with the help of that endoscope that can stop that bleeding as well. The scope can also be used in order to prevent the development of the colon cancer.
But is this procedure safe? Well, according to medical studies, the process of endoscopy is very safe but yes, it does have a few potential complications. They can be:
- Tear in the gut wall or perforation.
- Reaction to sedation
- Bleeding
- Infection
- Pancreatitis as a result of ERCP
The person who mostly performs the test is a gastroenterologist. There are many endoscopy products manufacturers from which these specialist doctors take the endoscope machines and with the help of them they can perform the procedure. One has to stay for fasting for at least 6 to 8 hours before going for the endoscopy test and in case of colonoscopy one has to clear the stools first.