Indications for Gastroscopy

Indications for Gastroscopy

Gastroscopy is indicated in patients with abdominal pain, internal bleeding, or for the dilatation of esophageal strictures.

Indications for doing gastroscopy include -

• Acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding, to establish the exact location of bleed prior to endoscopic cautery, surgery, etc.
• Dysphagia or difficulty with swallowing, especially if esophageal strictures or ulcerations are seen on a previous upper gastro intestinal series.
• Dyspepsia (indigestion) or heartburn, if refractory to standard medications. It is also indicated whenever a surgical procedure is planned in the upper digestive tract.
• Odynophagia or difficulty swallowing, when inflammation or infection is clinically suspected, especially if infection of the food pipe from candida, cytomegalovirus, or herpes simplex virus is likely.
• Surveillance endoscopy for known pre-malignant conditions affecting the upper digestive tract, such as Barrett's esophagus, lye-induced strictures (tight areas brought about by ingestion of a certain detergent) or Plummer-Vinson syndrome.
• Abnormalities seen on with other tests which require visual confirmation and tissue biopsy (eg: polyps, gastric ulcers, redundant gastric folds, strictures).
• Suspected obstruction at the end of the stomach.

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Other indications of gastroscopy include -

• Atypical chest pain
• abdominal pain of unknown origin
• Uncomplicated cases of acid reflux
• Uncomplicated cases of duodenal ulcer demonstrated with radiological tests(1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
  Gastroscopy - Overview
  
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  Esophagogastroduodenoscopy
  
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Treatments that can be done during the gastroscopy procedure include -

• Sclerotherapy of bleeding esophageal varices (open blood vessels at the base of the food pipe)
• Management of upper GI bleeding using electrocautery, photocoagulation, etc
• Laser ablation of esophageal cancer
• Endoscopic placement of esophageal stents to correct any narrowing
• Placement of permanent feeding tubes under endoscopic guidance (PEG tubes)
• Dilatation of esophageal strictures
• Polypectomy or removal of benign growths called polyps
• Dissolution of bezoars – A bezoar is a mass of indigestible material present in the digestive tract