Things You Need to Know About Upper Endoscopy

 An upper endoscopy, known as esophagogastroduodenoscopy, is a procedure that helps to visually examine the patient’s upper digestive system with the help of a tiny camera attached at the end of a long, flexible tube, known as an endoscope. A gastroenterologist uses this tool to diagnose or treat conditions that affect the oesophagus, stomach, and small intestine (duodenum). Let us know more about the procedure: 

Preparation

Usually, people who are undergoing upper endoscopy receive a sedative. This helps them relax and make them more comfortable during the procedure. The patient may be mentally alert, but their memory, reaction time, and judgment may be partially impaired for around 24 hours. It is suggested that the patient should bring along someone who can drive them home after the procedure. 

During the Procedure 

During an upper endoscopy procedure, the patient will be asked to lie down on a table either on their back or on their side. The procedure involves: 

Attaching monitors to the body: This allows the health care team to keep a tab on the patient’s breathing, blood pressure, and heart rate.

Administering medications: Sedatives and medications is injected through the vein in the forearm. 

Spraying an anaesthetic in the mouth: This is used to numb the throat that helps the patient prepare for insertion of the endoscope. The patient may also be asked to wear a plastic mouth guard that will hold his/her mouth open.

Inserting the endoscope: The patient will also be asked to swallow to help the endoscope pass down the throat. The patient may feel some pressure which is normal. 

Symptoms

Some of the common signs and symptoms to watch for after the procedure is over are:

• Fever
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath
• Dark coloured stool
• Difficulty in swallowing
• Severe or persistent abdominal pain
• Vomiting

We hope that this information will help in the preparation of an esophagogastroduodenoscopy and will make the process quite easy for the patient. Also, it is advised that one should only get such procedures done by the best endoscopist in Delhi NCR to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment.

What to Know About Digestive Diseases and Endoscopy

Endoscopy is a nonsurgical medical process that is used to check a person's digestive tract. It is the insertion of a long and flexible tube with a light and camera attached to it, directly into the body to inspect an internal organ and tissues. Endoscopy is also used to capture images of the internal organ and perform minor surgeries. In medical terms, the upper endoscopy is called esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Often, doctors prescribe this medical process for the following reasons:

Examine signs and symptoms

This minimally invasive process may help doctors to determine causes of digestive problems such as:

• Digestive tract bleeding
• Stomach pain
• Polyps or growths in the colon
• Gastritis, ulcers or difficulty swallowing
• Changes in bowel habits (chronic constipation or diarrhoea)

Tissue samples 

The doctors may prescribe this process to collect tissue samples (biopsy) to assess them for any specific conditions and health diseases including bleeding, inflammation, anaemia, diarrhoea, or cancers of the digestive tract.

Treatment

The endoscopist may use some specific tools through the endoscope to treat problems in the digestive tract system including destroying or removing a strange object, clipping off a polyp, or widening a narrow esophagus.

How to prepare for Endoscopy?

Examining the upper digestive tract requires a person to keep a fast for 7-8 hours before the procedure to ensure that the stomach is unfilled and set for the endoscopy. If an individual takes certain blood-thinning medicines, the doctor may ask him to stop medications before the procedure.

Risks and side effects

Though endoscopy is a safe medical procedure, there may be some potential complications such as:

• A numb throat for a few hours due to the effects of local anesthetic
• Feeling bloated for a few hours after the process
• Pain in endoscopy part
• Complications related to previous health problems

Those who are prescribed for this medical procedure need to choose the best endoscopist in Delhi, Mumbai or any other city. During the process, the person will be given a sedative or general anesthesia to make them comfortable and relaxed. Patients may wake up within an hour but it will take 24 hours for the sedation effect to wear off.

When Should One Go for An Endoscopy

Endoscopy is a popular nonsurgical procedure that is used to examine the digestive tract of the patient.  During the process of an upper endoscopy, an endoscope is passed through the mouth and throat of the patients, so as to enter the esophagus. It allows the doctors or endoscopists to properly view the stomach, esophagus and the upper portion of the small intestine. Similarly, the endoscopes can be easily passed into the colon or large intestine of a person through the rectum, for the purpose of examining the lower portion of the intestine. This procedure is commonly referred to as colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy, depending on how far up the colon of the patient is being examined. People prescribed with this procedure should visit the most experienced and reputed endoscopists in Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities, to make sure that their endoscopy is carried out in the smoothest fashion. 

When to go for an endoscopy? 

Doctors usually recommend an endoscopy for the purpose of assessing:  

• Stomach pain
• Digestive tract bleeding
• Difficulty in swallowing, ulcers and/or gastritis
• Changes in the bowel habits, such as diarrhoea and chronic constipation 
• Growths in the colon or polyps

In addition to evaluating the above-mentioned symptoms, many doctors also may use an endoscope to take a biopsy and look for the presence of any disease or ailment. 

In many cases, endoscopists Delhi and other cities also use an endoscopic procedure to treat an ailment related to the digestive tract. For example, in addition to detecting active bleeding from an ulcer, the devices passed through the endoscope can even help in stopping this bleeding. Polyps can be removed from the colon through an endoscope, so as to prevent the development of colon cancer.

Overall, endoscopy is an extremely safe procedure. However, it does have a few rare but potential complications, which include infection, bleeding, reaction to sedation, as well as perforation (tear in the gut wall). People can, however, make sure to avoid these complications by visiting a renowned endoscopist for the procedure.

As endoscopic procedure is known to be especially effective in diagnosing stomach ulcer, hiatal hernia, pancreatitis, gallstones, tumours, as well as Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease.