Barium meal side effects_Barium meal side effects

Many friends actually don’t know about barium meal because they rarely hear this term in life. In fact, barium meal is a kind of white crystal, which is mainly used as a medicine for gastrointestinal examination. For the human body, barium meal basically has no side effects. However, you should drink more water after the examination to excrete the barium meal. You may be able to distinguish that the barium meal is white when it is excreted, which is normal.

There is absolutely no need to worry that "barium meal" is harmful to the body.

The main ingredient of "barium meal" is barium sulfate, which is a white powder, odorless and slightly astringent. After being taken by the human body, it will not be absorbed by the gastrointestinal tract and will be excreted from the feces after a few hours, so it has no toxic effect on the human body. However, barium sulfate has an astringent taste and some patients have difficulty swallowing it, so an appropriate amount of flavoring agent is added during preparation, such as essence, sugar or 5% saccharin water. In order to maintain a certain viscosity of the barium and better display the gastrointestinal mucosa, a small amount of peach gum or gum arabic is added as a binder.

Therefore, fresh "barium meal" should be a fragrant and sweet milky white suspension. In addition, other barium salts and barium chloride, barium nitrate, barium carbonate, etc. are all highly toxic. It must not replace barium sulfate for X-ray examination of the gastrointestinal tract.

Scope of application

The most commonly used X-ray examinations are gastrointestinal barium meal examination and barium enema examination. This examination is safe, non-invasive and has no side effects, but some patients, such as those with acute respiratory tract infections, severe heart, liver, and kidney dysfunction, and patients with positive iodine tests, are generally not suitable for this examination.

Fiber gastroscopy

The process of observing the mucosal state of the esophagus, stomach, duodenal bulb and even the descending part in sequence and clearly through gastroscopy, and performing living pathological and cytological examinations is called gastroscopy. Gastroscopy is a reliable and safe diagnosis.

Indications

1. There are upper gastrointestinal symptoms, including upper abdominal discomfort, bloating, pain, heartburn and acid reflux, swallowing discomfort, choking, belching, hiccups and unexplained loss of appetite, weight loss, anemia, etc.

2. Those whose upper gastrointestinal tract barium meal examination cannot identify the lesion or whose symptoms are inconsistent with the results of the barium meal examination.

3. For acute (chronic) upper gastrointestinal bleeding of unknown cause, the former can undergo emergency gastroscopy to determine the cause and perform hemostatic treatment.

4. Lesions that require follow-up, such as ulcer disease, atrophic gastritis, precancerous lesions, and postoperative gastric symptoms.

5. Survey of high-risk groups (areas with high incidence of esophageal cancer and gastric cancer).

6. Suitable for endoscopic treatment, such as gastric foreign bodies, gastric polyps, esophageal cardia stenosis, etc.

Barium meal cannot check for gastric cancer. If you have suspected symptoms of gastric cancer, you should still choose the correct examination method. There are still many issues that need attention before the examination. I hope patients can consult their doctors more. We should pay attention to nourishing and protecting the stomach in our daily lives, treat stomach problems in a timely manner, and prevent stomach cancer.