Gastrointestinal tract, Dallas
An upper endoscopy is used to diagnose and, sometimes, treat
conditions that affect the upper part of your digestive system, including the
esophagus, stomach and beginning of the small intestine (duodenum).
Your doctor may recommend an endoscopy procedure to:
Investigate signs and symptoms.
An endoscopy may help your doctor determine what's causing digestive signs
and symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, difficulty swallowing
and gastrointestinal bleeding.
Diagnose.
Your doctor may use an endoscopy to collect tissue samples
(biopsy) to test for diseases and conditions, such as anemia, bleeding, inflammation,
diarrhea or cancers of the digestive system.
Treat.
Your doctor can pass special tools through the endoscope to
treat problems in your digestive system, such as widening a narrow esophagus, clipping off a polyp or removing a foreign object.
An endoscopy is sometimes combined with other procedures, such
as an ultrasound. An ultrasound probe may be attached to the endoscope to create
specialized images of the wall of your esophagus or stomach. An endoscopic ultrasound may also help your doctor create
images of hard-to-reach organs, such as your pancreas. Newer endoscopes use
high-definition video to provide clearer images.
Many endoscopes have technology called narrow band imaging,
which uses special light to help doctors better detect precancerous conditions, such as Barrett's esophagus.
Comments
Post a Comment