Gastroscopy

Gastroscopy, upper panendoscopy

Upper panendoscopy is an endoscopy of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum. It can be used to clarify complaints in the upper digestive tract (e.g. burning stomach, acid regurgitation, difficulty swallowing, flatulence or upper abdominal pain) and to check or treat known diseases.

Artificial intelligence is also used in this examination to detect chronic esophageal changes. This helps the doctor to find questionable changes more precisely.

If necessary, tissue samples (biopsies) can be taken during the examination using small forceps measuring just a few millimeters.

Procedure of the examination

We perform gastroscopy using the latest generation of instruments and processors from the leading manufacturer of endoscopes.

Patients must not eat or drink anything for at least 6 hours before the gastroscopy, as the stomach must be completely empty for the procedure.

Patients generally sleep during the examination with a short-acting sleeping pill (Propofol, Disoprivan®) under close monitoring of pulse and oxygen saturation in the blood. A venous cannula in the forearm is required for sedation.

Due to the sleep medication during the examination, the patient is not allowed to drive a car (including a bicycle) on the day of the examination for legal reasons and must refrain from other potentially accident-prone work on this day.

In a comfortable left-sided position, a plastic protective ring is placed in your mouth to protect the sensitive instrument, which you hold in place with your teeth. As soon as the patient is well sedated, the instrument is carefully advanced into the uppermost parts of the duodenum. As the endoscope is slowly withdrawn and air is blown in, the duodenum, the entire stomach and the oesophagus are examined in detail and biopsies are taken if necessary.

After the examination, patients wake up quickly so that the findings can be discussed.

The time required for the entire examination (including pre- and post-discussion and «sleeping in») is approx. 1.5 hours.