Surgical Hospital :: Endoscopies


Physicians increasingly use endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) to assess gastrointestinal and lung diseases. EUS can provide detailed, cost-effective, nonsurgical assessment of certain diseases.

Marbella endoscopiesEUS may be used to determine the cause of symptoms such as abdominal pain, to evaluate a growth (tumour) and to diagnose diseases of the digestive tract and lungs.

EUS involves passing a thin, flexible tube (endoscope) through a patient's mouth or rectum. A small ultrasound transducer in the endoscope produces sound waves that create a viewable image of the surrounding tissue. Physicians use EUS to examine the lining and walls of the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract and nearby organs such as the pancreas, liver and gallbladder.

Another kind of ultrasound allows very high-resolution imaging of the surface of the gastrointestinal tract. Physicians use this kind to help determine the size of small nodules and how deeply the nodules involve the wall of the GI tract.

When combined with fine-needle aspiration, EUS is a minimally invasive, state-of-the-art alternative to exploratory surgery to remove tissue samples from the abdominal area and other organs. Physicians also use EUS to guide pseudo-cyst drainage, injections, and painkilling treatments.

Endoscopic ultrasound is used to:

Stage gastrointestinal and lung cancers, including oesophageal, gastric, rectal and pancreatic cancers. EUS can accurately determine how deeply a tumour penetrates the gut wall. Examining the size, shape and ultrasound appearance of adjacent lymph nodes also helps determine whether cancer has spread.

Detect common bile duct stones.

Assess masses in the sub-mucous lining of the gastrointestinal tract.

Assess enlarged stomach folds that may be involved with cancer deep in the stomach wall and unreachable by surface biopsies.

Diagnose diseases of the internal organs, such as of the pancreas, such as chronic pancreatitis or cysts of the pancreas.

© 2007 High Care International Hospital Marbella :: All Rights Reserved :: Web Design by JPK