Acid Reflux and Endoscopy

One of the main tools in diagnosing acid reflux, endoscopy is an invasive medical procedure which allows visual inspection of the affected areas – namely, visual inspection of the patient’s stomach and esophagus.

The endoscopy may only be performed in a hospital or a clinic where the appropriate facilities are available, under the close supervision of a specialized health care professional. The actual procedure only lasts for a few minutes, however the preliminary operations, the preparations and the post-procedure care may last for up to several hours. It is recommended that the patient avoids eating anything for a few hours before undergoing this procedure in order to obtain the best results.

The preliminary operations include explaining the procedure to the patient (what it consists of, how will it help diagnose acid reflux etc), performing a general health examination to ensure that he is able to undergo the endoscopy and signing a form of consent.

Once all these preparations are complete, he will be guided into the endoscopy room. Here he will be connected to a machine which will monitor several parameters (heart rate, oxygen levels etc) for the duration of the procedure, and after lying down on his left side on the examination table, the patient will be administered a mild sedative, in order to eliminate any discomfort which may appear during the procedure.

A small mouth guard will be placed between the patient’s teeth, both to protect them from the endoscope and to protect the equipment from his teeth in turn. The endoscope (a thin, long cable, fitted with a miniature camera on its tip) is placed in his mouth, over the tongue, close to the back of the throat, and the patient is asked to swallow. As the patient swallows, his esophagus opens up allowing the endoscope to pass through it and into the stomach. The camera records images of the surrounding tissues at all times, searching for evidence of scarring or other damage to the esophageal tissue caused by acid reflux. Warm air is blown along the length of the endoscope in order to obtain better images, and once the instrument reaches the stomach, the procedure is almost complete. The operator will take a few tissue samples from the stomach and esophagus for further research, and the endoscopy procedure ends. The patient is taken to a ward to recover, and soon he will be able to leave the hospital.

Endoscopy is a procedure widely used for patients suffering from various gastro-esophageal or digestive disorders, including acid reflux. The procedure is very safe, and virtually no hazardous consequences are possible.