New perspectives in gastrointestinal endoscopy
Written by:
Published: 20/06/2013
| Updated: 31/08/2022
Edited by: Top Doctors®
Scientific and technological advances in our ability to explore the interior of the organism mean that today we can visualize, diagnose and treat pathologies in areas that until recently were inaccessible to the digestive system and the bile duct.
Until now it was possible to visualize the stomach, large intestine and part of the small intestine. But the growing medical subspecialization and the use of new endoscopes with state-of-the-art technology allow us to explore the ways that the intestine communicates with the liver (bile duct) and the pancreas (pancreatic), and diagnose and treat conditions that previously required surgery.. The perspectives that cholangiopancreatoscopy opens up in the treatment of hepatobiliary disease are enormous.
For the areas of the intestine where direct endoscopy does not reach (or in cases where a conventional endoscopy is not desirable) we have the endoscopic capsule , a technologically avant-garde ally that ingested as if it were a drug capsule, transmits images of the inside our digestive system to a computer without us feeling any discomfort .
The endoscope with working channels allows the taking of samples, removal of polyps and mucous lesions, treatment of bleeding with bands, injection of drugs and laser therapy, detection and removal of pre-malignant lesions (which can evolve into cancers), placement of Radiotherapy devices and stents to treat and prevent obstructions.
But the new techniques are not limited to the interior of the digestive system. Echoendoscopy allows to see, from inside the body and through the walls of the digestive tract, organs and lesions difficult to assess from the outside and at the same time reach them for taking samples or administering treatments.
The future, however, lies in the early detection of premalignant lesions through specialized consultations of hereditary family cancer, making approximate estimates of the lifetime risk of certain cancers.
