Our Procedure Preparations
When you and your doctor seek comprehensive care and
skill for a digestive or liver disorder, you will find
it at Advanced Gastroenterology, located in Crystal
River, FL. Our office provides diagnostic and
therapeutic management of digestive disease and liver
disorders with the most advanced diagnostic and
treatment methods for colorectal cancer, heartburn and
reflux disease, hiatal hernia, swallowing difficulties,
irritable bowel, change in bowel habits, constipation,
diarrhea, hemorrhoids, ulcers, colitis, diverticulitis,
abdominal pain, liver and gallbladder problems and much
more.
Gastrointestinal Treatment & Procedure Preparations
Capsule enteroscopy is a fairly recently developed
technique in which the small intestine is imaged. The
small intestine begins just past the stomach and ends in
the colon or large bowel. Its length varies but can be
as long as nine feet. Prior to this procedure, camera
images of the entire small bowel were possible only
during surgical operations. This technique is
non-invasive and is done as an outpatient. It employs a
pill-sized disposable camera which is swallowed by the
patient...
Colonoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the
colon and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD
camera or a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed
through the anus. It may provide a visual diagnosis
(e.g. ulceration, polyps) and grants the opportunity for
biopsy or removal of suspected lesions. Colonoscopy can
remove polyps as small as one millimetre or less. Once
polyps are removed, they can be studied with the aid of
a microscope to determine if they are precancerous or
not. Colonoscopy is similar to, but not the same as,
sigmoidoscopy—the difference being related to which
parts of the colon each can examine. A colonoscopy
allows an examination of the entire colon (measuring
four to five feet in length). A sigmoidoscopy allows an
examination of the distal portion (final two feet) of
the colon, which may be sufficient because benefits to
colonoscopy (cancer survival) have been limited to the
distal portion of the colon.
Colorecatal Cancer Screening
Colorectal (large bowel) cancer is a disease in which
malignant (cancer) cells form in the inner lining of the
colon or rectum. Together, the colon and rectum make up
the large bowel or large intestine. The large intestine
is the last segment of the digestive system (the
esophagus, stomach, and small intestine are the first
three sections). The large bowel's main job is to
reabsorb water from the contents of the intestine so
that solid waste can be expelled into the toilet. The
first several feet of the large intestine is the colon
and the last 6 inches is the rectum...
Crohn's disease, also known as regional enteritis, is
a type of inflammatory bowel disease that may affect any
part of the gastrointestinal tract from mouth to anus,
causing a wide variety of symptoms. It primarily causes
abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if
inflammation is at its worst), vomiting (can be
continuous), or weight loss, but may also cause
complications outside the gastrointestinal tract such as
skin rashes, arthritis, inflammation of the eye,
tiredness, and lack of concentration.
Poorly
understood interactions between environmental,
immunological and bacterial factors play a role in
causing Crohn's disease. This results in a chronic
inflammatory disorder, in which the body's immune system
attacks the gastrointestinal tract possibly directed at
a microbial antigens. There is evidence of a genetic
link to Crohn's disease, putting individuals with
siblings afflicted with the disease at higher risk.
Males and females are equally affected. Smokers are two
times more likely to develop Crohn's disease than
nonsmokers. Crohn's disease affects between 400,000 and
600,000 people in North America. Crohn's disease tends
to present initially in the teens and twenties, with
another peak incidence in the fifties to seventies,
although the disease can occur at any age. There is no
known pharmaceutical or surgical cure for Crohn's
disease. Treatment options are restricted to controlling
symptoms, maintaining remission, and preventing relapse.
Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP)
is a technique that combines the use of endoscopy and
fluoroscopy to diagnose and treat certain problems of
the biliary or pancreatic ductal systems. Through the
endoscope, the physician can see the inside of the
stomach and duodenum, and inject dyes into the ducts in
the biliary tree and pancreas so they can be seen on
X-rays. ERCP is used primarily to diagnose and treat
conditions of the bile ducts, including gallstones,
inflammatory strictures (scars), leaks (from trauma and
surgery), and cancer. ERCP can be performed for
diagnostic and therapeutic reasons, although the
development of safer and relatively non-invasive
investigations such as magnetic resonance
cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and endoscopic
ultrasound has meant that ERCP is now rarely performed
without therapeutic intent.
Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) or echo-endoscopy is a
medical procedure in endoscopy (insertion of a probe
into a hollow organ) is combined with ultrasound to
obtain images of the internal organs in the chest and
abdomen. It can be used to visualize the wall of these
organs, or to look at adjacent structures. Combined with
Doppler imaging, nearby blood vessels can also be
evaluated. Endoscopic ultrasonography is most commonly
used in the upper digestive tract and in the respiratory
system. The procedure is performed by
gastroenterologists or pulmonologists who have had
extensive advanced training. For the patient, the
procedure feels almost identical to the endoscopic
procedure without the ultrasound part, unless
ultrasound-guided biopsy of deeper structures is
performed.
An esophageal motility study (EMS) or esophageal
manometry is a test to assess motor function of the
Upper Esophageal Sphincter (UES), Esophageal body and
Lower Esophageal Sphincter (LES).
Flexible sigmoidoscopy is a procedure which allows
the gastroenterologist to view the rectum and sigmoid
colon, the last portions of the colon. A thin flexible
camera called a sigmoidoscope is used for this test and
it typically takes about five minutes. Although some
cramping is sometimes experienced during the
examination, sedation is rarely needed. This procedure
helps the gastroenterologist identify and sometimes
treat problems specific to this area of the colon such
as hemorrhoids, infections and rectal pain. Although an
instrument similar to a colonoscope is used, this
procedure is not equivalent to or accurate as
colonoscopy for colon cancer screening. Moreover, bowel
cleansing in preparation for sigmoidoscopy is not as
thorough as for colonoscopy.
In medicine (gastroenterology),
esophagogastroduodenoscopy is a diagnostic endoscopic
procedure that visualizes the upper part of the
gastrointestinal tract up to the duodenum. It is
considered a minimally invasive procedure since it does
not require an incision into one of the major body
cavities and does not require any significant recovery
after the procedure (unless sedation or anesthesia has
been used). A sore throat is also common.
Nutritional therapy for hemorrhagic gastro-intestinal
diseases is aimed at protecting and to accelerating the
cure of hemorrhagic lesion(s) with rapid recovery of
general condition. The accurate judgment for fluid
therapy and contents, volume and timing of dietetic
therapy is very difficult. However, it should always be
considered since excellent nutritional therapy
influences prognosis of hemorrhagic digestive diseases
to a great degree for its medication.
Virtual colonoscopy (VC, also called CT Colonography)
is a medical imaging procedure which uses x-rays and
computers to produce two- and three-dimensional images
of the colon (large intestine) from the lowest part, the
rectum, all the way to the lower end of the small
intestine and display them on a screen. The procedure is
used to diagnose colon and bowel disease, including
polyps, diverticulosis and cancer. VC is performed via
computed tomography (CT), sometimes called a CAT scan,
or with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
B. Jeffrey Wallis, M.D., P.A. - Colonoscopy, EGD, Liver, ERCP