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.
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