What is a gastroscopy

There are many instruments for examining diseases in medicine. The most accurate and reliable instrument for examining the stomach is the gastroscope. Many people may not know what a gastroscope is. This instrument is now quite common. Basically, all county-level hospitals have it. Through the gastroscopy, you can intuitively see the condition of the stomach wall. The diagnosis of diseases such as gastritis and gastric ulcers is relatively accurate. It can also remove diseased tissues and examine diseases such as tumors.

Gastroscopy is a medical examination method and also refers to the instrument used for this examination. It is inserted into the stomach through a thin, soft tube, allowing doctors to directly observe lesions in the esophagus, stomach and duodenum, especially tiny lesions.

Gastroscopy uses a slender tube with a diameter of about one centimeter and a light-conducting fiber wrapped in black plastic. The front end is equipped with an endoscope and is inserted through the mouth into the subject's esophagus, stomach, and duodenum. The strong light emitted by the light source can bend the light through the light-conducting fiber, allowing the doctor to clearly observe the health status of various parts of the upper digestive tract from the other end. If necessary, a clip can be inserted through the small hole on the gastroscope for biopsy. The entire examination takes about 10 minutes, and if a biopsy is required, it will take 20 to 30 minutes.

During a gastroscopy, in order to clearly see the mucous membrane of the digestive tract, the area being examined must be very clean, with no food or blood clots remaining. If you have a gastroscopy in the morning, do not eat or drink, and do not smoke after 8 pm the night before the examination. Eat food with less residue and easy to digest for dinner the day before. Because even if the patient drinks a small amount of water, the color of the gastric mucosa can change. For example, in the case of significant atrophic gastritis, the gastric mucosa can turn red after drinking water, which can lead to errors in diagnosis. Gastric lavage must be performed the night before the examination, and the gastric contents must be thoroughly washed out until the flushing fluid is clear. After gastric lavage and before the gastric tube is removed, the patient should lie in a supine position with his head low and feet high to allow the remaining fluid in the stomach to be completely discharged. Gastric lavage should not be performed on the same day because it can change the color of the gastric mucosa. At the same time, in order to reduce saliva secretion, reduce reflexes and reduce tension, inject 0.5 mg of atropine and 10 mg of diazepam or 0.1 g of luminal 15 to 30 minutes before the examination, and drink 2 to 3 ml of defoaming agent after the injection.

Gastroscopy is an invasive procedure, in which a thin tube with a diameter of about one centimeter and a light-guiding fiber wrapped in black plastic is inserted into the throat. The examination is very painful and patients are prone to fear.

Therefore, scientists invented the capsule endoscope (intelligent capsule gastrointestinal endoscopy system). It does not require any anesthesia. Patients only need to take a small "capsule" to replace the gastroscopy for examination. It can also examine the stomach, large intestine, and small intestine, and take 70,000 to 80,000 clear photos of human gastrointestinal tract lesions. The front end of the capsule endoscope is a transparent spherical shape, which contains a miniature digital camera and 6 flash lights. It can take clear pictures inside the dark digestive tract, but the price is very expensive, usually 2000-3000, which is 5-10 times that of an ordinary gastroscopy.