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Endoscopy is where we examine the upper digestive tract with a flexible tube that's passed from
the mouth, into the esophagus, the stomach, and the small bowel.
This flexible tube basically has a light source, and a bunch of different channels through
which we can pass instruments to take biopsies or to treat lesions.
This is a great tool to evaluate the esophagus, the stomach, and the small bowel. We can take
biopsies. We can see where ulcers are. We can biopsy any lesions to see if there is
any cancer or tumors. So this is a great tool that gastroenterologist use to examine the
upper digestive tract.
It was invented in the 1930's or 40s', and perfected in the 1960's, and now it's basically
a fiber optic tube that has a light source that allows us to see around corners, and
we can control the visualization of the gastrointestinal wall.