| What is endoscopy?
en·dos·co·py (?n’d?-sk?p’) n. Examination of the interior of a canal or hollow organ by means of an endoscope.-From: The American Heritage® Stedman’s Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. Endoscopy literally means to “look into.” Gastroenterologists have specialized in the technique of endoscopy for decades, initially practicing with rigid instruments which could be passed only for a limited distance into the intestinal tract via the mouth or anus. Advances in technology led to the development of flexible fiberoptic instruments in the 1970’s and video-based instruments in the 1980’s which allow high quality optical images of the interior of the esophagus, stomach, and duodenum (though the mouth) and the colon, or large intestine, and ileum (last segment of small intestine) through the anus. Modern gastrointestinal endoscopy is painless when performed under procedural sedation. We enter and leave the body through natural openings, making endoscopy a minimally invasive procedure. Endoscopy is used both for diagnosis and for treatment. For example, during a colonoscopy a polyp may be discovered (diagnosed) and then immediately removed (treated) using endoscopic surgical techniques. |
| What does a flexible endoscope look like?
An upper endoscope insertion tube is 100 cm (3.2 feet) in length. A colonoscope is 170 cm (5.6 feet) long. |
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