Endoscopy

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Colonoscopy

Overview

Risks

Results

Endoscopy

What the risks are:

The major risks are pain, bleeding, or infection. For gastrointestinal endoscopy, there is also a risk of perforation (tearing) of the intestinal wall.

Reactions to the anesthesia may rarely occur, and for this reason your breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen level will be monitored during the procedure.

Special considerations:

Endoscopies also can be used to perform therapeutic procedures, including treatment of bleeding lesions and removal of colon polyps.

During endoscopic ultrasound, a needle may be inserted into the area of interest in order to acquire a sample of cells. This is called fine needle aspiration.

Review Date: 3/28/2005
Reviewed By: Christian Stone, M.D., Division of Gastroenterology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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