CAPSULE ENDOSCOPY
Your doctor has recommended that you have a capsule endoscopy of the small bowel for further evaluation of your condition. Capsule endoscopy with PillCam SB video capsule enables your doctor to examine your entire small intestine. Your doctor will have you ingest a vitamin-pill sized video capsule, which has its own camera and light source. During the 8-hour exam, you are free to move about. While the video capsule travels through your body, it sends images to a data recorder you will wear on a waist belt. Most patients find the test comfortable. Afterwards, your doctor will view the images on a video monitor. The capsule is disposable and passes naturally with your bowel movement. You should not feel any pain or discomfort.
Capsule endoscopy helps your doctor determine the cause for recurrent or persistent symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea, bleeding or anemia. Your doctor might use capsule endoscopy to obtain motility data such as gastric or small bowel passage time.
Your doctor has recommended that you have a colonoscopy. During the colonoscopy, a flexible fiberoptic tube is passed through the rectum into the lower intestinal tract. This procedure allows the doctor to examine the lining of the rectum and the large intestine and to identify any abnormalities.
Eyeglasses must be removed prior to the procedure. You may prefer to remove dentures and contact lenses at this time.
As you lie on your left side, the doctor will examine your rectum with a gloved lubricated finger. Then he will insert the lubricated flexible colonoscopy, which will give you a mild sensation of wanting to move your bowels. As the colonoscopy is carefully advanced through the colon, the doctor will examine the bowel lining thoroughouly. You may feel some cramping or gas due to the air, which the doctor is putting into the colon. You may be asked to change position during the procedure to assist in passage of the colonoscope.
Often a biopsy specimen is taken for microscopic examination. If you have a polyp, it may be removed by electrocautery through the colonoscope. You will not feel any sensation or discomfort when the biopsy is performed or the polyp is removed.
Many people do not recall any of the procedure because of the sedation. After the procedure, you will feel drowsy and may sleep for a short time. You may feel some bloating from the air inserted during the procedure. You will feel more comfortable if you expel this air.
Before you leave, the doctor will discuss the findings with you. The GI nurse or technician will give you written instructions to follow when you get home.
Your doctor has recommended that you have an ERCP. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, or ERCP, is a specialized technique used to study the ducts of the gallbladder, pancreas and liver. Ducts are drainage routes; the drainage channels from the liver are called bile or biliary ducts.
During your ERCP, your doctor will pass an endoscope through your mouth, esophagus and stomach into the duodenum (the first part of the small intestine). An endoscope is a thin, flexible tube that lets your doctor see inside your bowels. After your doctor sees the common opening to ducts from the liver and pancreas, your doctor will pass a narrow plastic tube called a catheter through the endoscope and into the ducts. Your doctor will inject a contrast material (dye) into the pancreatic or biliary ducts and will take X-rays.
Your doctor has recommended that you have a flexible sigmoidoscopy. During this procedure a flexible fiberoptic tube is passed through the rectum into the lower intestine (sigmoid colon). The doctor will examine the lining of the rectum and the sigmoid colon and identify any abnormalities. A biopsy specimen may be taken for microscopic examination. You will not feel any sensation or discomfort when the biopsy is performed.
During the sigmoidoscopy procedure, you will lie on your left side with your knees bent. The doctor will first examine your rectum with a gloved, lubricated finger. Then he will insert the lubricated sigmoidscope which will give you a mild sensation of wanting to move your bowels. As the sigmoidscope is carefully advanced through the rectum and sigmoid colon, the doctor will examine any intestinal lining for any abnormalities.
You may notice some mild lower abdominal pressure as the scope is advanced through the lower bowel. These sensations should be completely tolerable and not painful.
At the end of the procedure, the doctor will discuss the findings with you and the GI nurse or technician will give you written instructions to follow when you get home.
Your doctor has recommended that you have a gastroscopy. During this procedure a flexible fiberoptic tube is passed through the mouth and throat into the upper digestive tract. This procedure allows the doctor to examine the lining of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum (the first portion of the small intestine) and to identify any abnormalities.
Eyeglasses must be removed prior to the procedure. You may prefer to remove dentures and contact lenses at this time.
Your doctor may also spray your throat or ask you to gargle with a numbing medicine. As you lie on your left side, the doctor will place a small mouthpiece between your teeth. You will be able to breathe normally.
The doctor will then help you to swallow the flexible endoscope tube and he will perform an examination. A biopsy specimen may be taken for microscopic examination. You will not feel any sensation or discomfort when the biopsy is performed.
Many people do not recall any of the procedure because of the sedation. After the procedure, you will feel drowsy and may sleep for a short time. The doctor will then discuss the findings with you and the GI nurse or technician will give you written instructions to follow when you get home.
Your doctor has recommended that you have Infrared Coagulation for treatment of your hemorrhoids. Infrared Coagulation is the preferred office treatment for hemorrhoids because it is fast and well tolerated by patients. A small probe contacts the area above the hemorrhoid, exposing the tissue to a burst of infrared light for about one second. This coagulates the veins above the hemorrhoid causing it to shrink and recede. The patient may feel a sensation of heat very briefly, but it is generally not painful.
Your doctor has recommended that you begin Remicade infusions. Remicade is the only FDA-approved Crohn’s treatment to block TNF-alpha, which is believed to play an important role in the inflammatory process of Crohn’s disease. Remicade is a breakthrough biologic therapy that works with your immune system to put the disease into remission and keep it there. Which means Remicade could allow you to live without flare-ups as demonstrated in a 54-week study. It is also now approved to be used with ulcerative colitis patients.
Remicade may also let you reduce or stop steroid use. And because it’s not a steroid, it doesn’t carry the potentially harsh side effects of steroids such as moon facies, acne, and osteoporosis, among other things.
After the first three doses, patients only require treatment once every eight weeks. That’s just six times a year. Remicade is administered in a two-hour IV infusion by your healthcare professional.