Endosonography is the procedure where your doctors examine the esophagus, linings of the stomach, the digestive tract and lungs. It also includes the study of other areas that are close to the digestive system like the rectum, liver, colon pancreas and the gall bladder.
The medical procedure is carried out by specialists trained to do it. They have years of experience and training. A thin flexible tube is used to carry the procedure of endosonography and it is called endoscope. It has a miniature ultrasound probing device. The tube is put inside through your mouth or anus area to give you images of the digestive tract, through sound waves.
If you complain of chest or abdomen pain. Endosonography is done to rule out the diseases in the lungs or digestive system. Also, if there are some issues found in the CT scan or MRI’s then further investigations are done with the help of endo sonography.
Endosonography helps to evaluate:
- Colon or rectal cancers, cancer cells in the lungs, stomach, esophagus and ampullary.
- Sarcoidosis
- Lymphoma
- Stones in the bile duct
- Neuroendocrine Tumors
- Cysts in pancreas
- Problems in the esophagus
It can rule out various issues like:
- Assessment of the tumor, and how long it has penetrated inside the abdomen walls in cancers related to the esophagus, rectal area, pancreas and the lungs.
- If the cancer cells are present, they are in which stage
- If the cancer has spread to the areas like the nodes of lymph or other organs
- Provides thorough study about the small lung cancer cells so proper treatment can be given.
- If there are some abnormalities found in the scans, they can be ruled. For example, the cysts in pancreas
- It guides in the procedure of draining abnormal fluid that gets collected in the abdomen
- It helps in finding the precise target where medicines can be delivered directly into the liver or several other organs
What can you expect during the procedure?
Different doctors have different practices of performing this test. For examining the upper tract, the endoscopy doctor gives you anesthesia in the throat in the form of spray. Some give you sedatives, so that you can relax. You are made to sleep on your left-hand side. The procedure is then carried out by putting the endoscope inside your throat to have a clear look of your esophagus, stomach and duodenum. You can breathe normally nothing interferes with that.The procedure takes less than an hour. Different patients have different experiences. Some do not remember anything; some just sleep and some do feel that it makes them a little uncomfortable.
For examining the lower tract as well the procedure is almost same. Most of the times you do not have to take any medicine at all. Sedatives are given if a deeper look into the colone has to be taken or longer examination has to be done. This procedure takes around half an hour. If the drainage of cyst or biopsy is to be done then it takes around two hours for the doctor to finish.
Endosonography is an easy procedure and is not very painful.
