Medical Center Tips

This animation will show how a gastroscopy is carried out. A gastroscopy is a test that allows your doctor to look inside your food-pipe (oesophagus),stomach and the first part of the small bowel (duodenum). Click the navigation arrows below the animation screen to play, pause, rewind or fast forward the animation.  This animation contains sound. Here we show the areas of the digestive system which can be viewed using a gastroscope. You may be given a sedative to help ensure that you are relaxed and comfortable during the procedure.  Your doctor may spray a local anaesthetic into the back of your throat or give you a lozenge to suck to numb your throat.  Your doctor will place a mouth guard over your teeth to protect them.  An endoscope is a narrow, flexible, tube-liketelescopic camera.  It's passed through your mouth. You will be asked to swallow to help the endoscope pass into the oesophagus and down towards the stomach.  You should still be able to breathe normally during the procedure sometimes a little oxygen is given. A nurse will help the doctor by using a suction tube to remove excess saliva from your mouth.  Air is usually pumped through the tube andinto the stomach to make it expand and the stomach lining easier to see. When this happens you may briefly feel a sensation of fullness or nausea. A camera lens at the end of the endoscope sends pictures to a video screen. Your doctor will look at these images to examine the lining of your oesophagus,stomach and duodenum.  Sometimes a biopsy is taken. Special instruments are passed inside the endoscope and the doctor takes a sample of cells.  When the examination is finished, the endoscope will be taken out quickly and easily.  This is the end of the animation. Click on the animation screen to watch it again.