Endoscopy

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Basics

• Summary
• Start Here

Learn More

• Related Issues
• Specifics

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• Images

Research

• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

Resources

• Find an Expert

For You

• Children
• Women
• Patient Handouts

Summary

Endoscopy is a procedure that lets your doctor look inside your body. It uses an instrument called an endoscope, or scope for short. Scopes have a tiny camera attached to a long, thin tube. The doctor moves it through a body passageway or opening to see inside an organ. Sometimes scopes are used for surgery, such as for removing polyps from the colon.

There are many different kinds of endoscopy. Here are the names of some of them and where they look.:

• Arthroscopy: joints
• Bronchoscopy: lungs
• Colonoscopy and sigmoidoscopy: large intestine
• Cystoscopy and ureteroscopy: urinary system
• Laparoscopy: abdomen or pelvis
• Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy: esophagus and stomach

Start Here

• Endoscopy (American Cancer Society) Also in Spanish

Related Issues

• Sedation for Endoscopy (American College of Gastroenterology)

Specifics

• Adrenal Gland Removal (Adrenalectomy) (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons)
• Bronchoscopy and Bronchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Capsule Endoscopy (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy)
• Colonoscopy: MedlinePlus Health Topic (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Colposcopy (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Cystoscopy and Ureteroscopy (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Diagnostic Laparoscopy (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons)
• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Laparoscopic Surgery -- What Is It? (American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons) Also in Spanish
• Laparoscopy (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish
• Upper GI Endoscopy (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases) Also in Spanish
• Ureteroscopy (National Kidney Foundation)
• Ventral Hernia Repair Surgery (Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons)

Images

• Laparoscopic surgery - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Laryngoscopy - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Pelvic laparoscopy - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Clinical Trials

• ClinicalTrials.gov: Endoscopy (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

• Article: Biomechanical effects of transforaminal endoscopic lumbar discectomy combined with spinal dynamic...
• Article: Comparison of short-term effectiveness between unilateral biportal endoscopic and MED-assisted transforaminal...
• Article: The clinical application of mitoxantrone hydrochloride tracing in endoscopic radical resection...
• Endoscopy -- see more articles

Find an Expert

• ASGE: Find a Doctor (American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy)

Children

• Endoscopy (Upper) (For Children) (North American Society for Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition)
• Laryngoscopy (For Parents) (Nemours Foundation)

Women

• Hysteroscopy (National Library of Medicine) Also in Spanish

Patient Handouts

• Bronchoscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Cystoscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Diagnostic laparoscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• EGD discharge (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Endoscopic ultrasound (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Hysteroscopy (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish