FAQs

The procedure takes about 15 to 30 minutes. After the test you will be transferred to a recovery room and a nurse will care for you until you are awake. You can usually go home after about 2 hours.

Make sure you have someone to drive you home as you will still be drowsy after the test. You should not drive and should plan to rest for the remainder of the day.

Although the doctor may briefly run through the findings of the gastroscopy with you once the sedative has worn off, a follow-up appointment is usually made to discuss the test results in more detail.

Yes. In fact, colonoscopy is considered to be the most accurate way to determine the health of your colon. This includes checking for cancer, polyps, colitis, diverticulosis, and other less common lower digestive problems.

ERCP is a diagnostic test to examine the duodenum (the first portion of the small intestine), the papilla of Vater (a small nipple-like structure with openings leading to the bile ducts and the pancreatic duct), the bile ducts, the gallbladder and the pancreatic duct. The procedure is performed by using a long, flexible, viewing instrument (a duodenoscope) about the diameter of a pen. The duodenoscope is flexible and can be directed and moved around the many bends of the stomach and intestine.

Two types of duodenoscopes are currently available:

• A fiber-optic duodenoscope uses a thin fiber-optic bundle to transmit images to the lens at the viewing end of the instrument.
• A videoscope uses a thin wire with a chip at the tip of the instrument to transmit images to a TV screen. The duodenoscope is inserted through the mouth, to the back of the throat, down the food pipe, through the stomach and into the first portion of the small intestine (duodenum). Once the papilla of Vater is identified, a small plastic catheter (cannula) is passed through an open channel of the duodenoscope into the papilla of Vater, and into the bile ducts and/or the pancreatic duct. Contrast material (dye) is then injected and x-rays are taken of the bile ducts and the pancreatic duct. The open channel also allows other instruments to be passed through it in order to perform biopsies, to insert plastic or metal tubing to relieve obstruction of bile ducts caused by cancer or scarring, and to perform incision by using electrocautery (electric heat).

The liver is a large solid organ located beneath the right diaphragm. The liver produces bile, which is stored in the gallbladder (a small sac located beneath the liver). After meals, the gallbladder contracts and empties the bile through the cystic duct, into the bile ducts, through the papilla of Vater, and into the intestine to help with digestion. The pancreas is located behind the stomach. It also produces digestive juice which drains through the pancreatic duct into the papilla of Vater, and into the intestine.

Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) is a procedure that combines upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy and x-rays to treat problems of the bile and pancreatic ducts.

Your bile ducts are tubes that carry bile from your liver to your gallbladder and duodenum. Your pancreatic ducts are tubes that carry pancreatic juice from your pancreas to your duodenum. Small pancreatic ducts empty into the main pancreatic duct. Your common bile duct and main pancreatic duct join before emptying into your duodenum.

Esophageal manometry is a test that is used to measure the function of the lower esophageal sphincter (the valve that prevents reflux, or backward flow, of gastric acid into the esophagus) and the muscles of the esophagus. This test will tell your doctor if your esophagus is able to move food to your stomach normally.

Esophageal testing or manometry measures the pressures and the pattern of muscle contractions in your esophagus. Abnormalities in the contractions and strength of the muscle or in the sphincter at the lower end of the esophagus can result in pain, heartburn, and/or difficulty swallowing. Esophageal manometry is used to diagnose the conditions that can cause these symptoms.