The word endoscopy comes from Greek, whose lexical components would be the prefix “endo” (within) derived from the adverb ἔνδον (within, interior) and “skopein” (to look, observe, therefore “to look inside”). Endoscopy is performed through the natural orifices of the body and, in the case of the digestive tract; it can be high, through the mouth, or low, through the anus, exploring both territories from inside them.
It is used to diagnose and characterize injuries in these areas, as well as to perform different procedures aimed at correcting certain problems, such as bleeding, narrowing, perforations, etc., or curing pathologies. If you are looking for any of these types of issues, you should be concerned with your doctor. You can also contact Granite Peaks Gastroenterology for your digestive endoscopy treatment.
These procedures are necessary when digestive symptoms or signs occur, ranging from nausea, burning, or abdominal pain, to high (from the mouth) or low (from the anus) bleeding, as well as when it comes to identifying injuries that do not occur they give frank symptoms. They may also be indicated in completely asymptomatic patients, as occurs in colorectal cancer screening programs.
What Is The Technique? What Can Be Detected Through Digestive Endoscopy?
The technique consists of introducing a flexible tube, with cold light inside and a camera at the end, through the natural orifices. In the upper digestive tract, they are evaluated from the throat to the beginning of the small intestine, and the lower digestive tract is evaluated from the anus to the end of the small intestine. Some endoscopes allow the territory between both explorations to be assessed, through the use of enter scopes with so-called double balloon endoscopes.
Through digestive endoscopy, lesions of little clinical relevance such as gastritis, diverticular disease, vascular lesions or hemorrhoids can be diagnosed, as well as some more relevant problems such as neoplastic lesions (cancer) with a risk of patient survival.
What two types of endoscopy are there? How is each of them different?
Endoscopies can be diagnostic or therapeutic. In diagnostics, the purpose is the investigation or diagnosis of digestive problems from the mouth to the rectum.
In therapeutic endoscopies, some problems of digestive pathology can be resolved using certain techniques, using different procedures, such as polypectomy, stricture dilation, bleeding treatments, closure of perforations, and argon laser therapies…
From A Therapeutic Point Of View, What Is The Role Of Endoscopy?
Numerous endoscopy procedures serve to resolve certain digestive pathologies. Among them:
- In the event of bleeding from lesions, sclerosis, or the injection of sclerosing substances or the placement of closure devices or sutures are used.
- In the event of a stenosis or narrowing, it is dilated by inflating balloons to open the path.
- Given the existence of polyps, and tumors inside the digestive tract with the capacity to become malignant, they can be respected and recovered to study their histology.
- If stones exist within the bile duct, they can be removed through various endoscopic procedures.
- Bariatric endoscopy (for the treatment of obesity) is useful for achieving weight loss in patients by placing devices or creating sutures that reduce the capacity of the gastric cavity.