Beaufort Memorial Hospital | Affiliated with Duke University Health System in heart and cancer

Digestive (GI) Services

Digestive Definitions Explained

Upper endoscopy
This test uses an endoscope—a long, flexible, narrow tube with a light and tiny camera on the end of it. The endoscope is passed through the mouth and down the esophagus so the doctor can see inside of it.

An endoscope can also be used with manometry, a test that measures pressure changes in the esophagus, showing if the muscles are tightening and relaxing normally.

Endoscopic ultrasound
EUS allows your doctor to examine the lining and the walls of your upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. The upper tract is the esophagus, stomach and duodenum; the lower tract includes your colon and rectum. EUS is also used to study internal organs that lie next to the gastrointestinal tract, such as the gall bladder and pancreas.

Your endoscopist will use a thin, flexible tube called an endoscope. Your doctor will pass the endoscope through your mouth or anus to the area to be examined. Your doctor then will turn on the ultrasound component to produce sound waves that create visual images of the digestive tract.

Sigmoidoscopy
During this test, a doctor uses a flexible, lighted instrument to examine the inner walls of the rectum and lower colon. The colon is cleansed before the test. This test only examines the lower part of the colon. If an unusual growth is found, a colonoscopy may be recommended to examine the entire colon.

Colonoscopy
This test uses a flexible, lighted instrument to examine the rectum and the entire colon. If a polyp or any other abnormal growth is found, the doctor can use the instrument to remove it. After removal, the growth will be examined to check for cancer cells. According to the NCI, this is the most sensitive screening test currently available. People are usually sedated for a colonoscopy, and the colon must be cleansed with an enema before the test.

Virtual colonoscopy
Rather than snaking a tube through the colon to spot growths, virtual colonoscopy uses CT scans—a noninvasive imaging technique—to provide a view of the colon. And unlike a standard colonoscopy, virtual colonoscopy does not require sedation, so people can drive themselves home after the procedure or even return to work.

ECP
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, or ERCP, is a specialized technique used to study the ducts of the gallbladder, pancreas and liver. Ducts are drainage routes; the drainage channels from the liver are called bile or biliary ducts. If your doctor has recommended an ERCP, this brochure will give you a basic understanding of the procedure - how it's performed, how it can help, and what side effects you might experience. It can't answer all of your questions, since a lot depends on the individual patient and the doctor. Please ask you doctor about anything you don't understand.

During ERCP, your doctor will pass an endoscope through your mouth, esophagus and stomach into the duodenum (first part of the small intestine). An endoscope is a thin, flexible tube that lets your doctor see inside your bowels. After your doctor sees the common opening to ducts from the liver and pancreas, your doctor will pass a narrow plastic tube called a catheter through the endoscope and into the ducts. Your doctor will inject a contrast material (dye) into the pancreatic or biliary ducts and will take X-rays.

Enteroscopy
Enteroscopy includes several types of procedures that allow a physician to look further into the small bowel (which is up to 25 feet long) than other methods mentioned here. A physician may use a longer conventional endoscope, a double-balloon endoscope, or a wireless capsule endoscope. Enteroscopy is primarily used to find the source of intestinal bleeding, but can also be used to find lesions, and determine causes for nutritional malabsorption.

An extended version of the conventional endoscope (called a "push endoscope") may be employed to study the upper part-about 40 inches-of the small intestine. Another, similar but longer instrument actually makes use of the normal digestive contractions of the small intestine to move the instrument further-up to 150 inches-into the small bowel. This procedure takes more time than the "push" method, and still may not be able to see the entire small intestine.

>> Back to top

More Resources

BMI Calculator

Anatomy of the heartFind your body mass index (BMI) using our calculator. Launch interactive.