Jay W. Marks, MD, is a board-certified internist and gastroenterologist. He graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and trained in internal medicine and gastroenterology at UCLA/Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Dr. Lee was born in Shanghai, China, and received his college and medical training in the United States. He is fluent in English and three Chinese dialects. He graduated with chemistry departmental honors from Harvey Mudd College. He was appointed president of AOA society at UCLA School of Medicine. He underwent internal medicine residency and gastroenterology fellowship training at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
The use of upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopes has revolutionized the
diagnosis and treatment of diseases of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, and
colon (large intestine). The last remaining frontier in the intestines has been
the small intestine. Wireless capsule endoscopy allows physicians to visualize
the inside of the intestines from the esophagus through to the colon, but
capsule endoscopy has limitations, the most notable of which are the inability
to control the capsule's passage and to perform therapy, for example, biopsy and
electrocautery. Although capsule endoscopy is likely to remain an important
diagnostic procedure because of its simplicity, the limitations of capsule
endoscopy have been overcome by the development of balloon endoscopy, also known
as enteroscopy.
What is balloon endoscopy?
There are two types of balloon endoscopy: single balloon and double balloon.
Single balloon endoscopy
For single balloon endoscopy, a 200 cm long flexible,
fiberoptic, endoscope (a hose-like tube one centimeter in diameter with a light
and a camera on the tip) is fitted with an equally long overtube that slides the
full length of the endoscope. On the tip of the overtube is a balloon that can
be blown up and deflated. The balloon when blown up is used
to anchor the overtube within the intestine. While the overtube is anchored, the endoscopy can
be advance further into the small intestine. By withdrawing the overtube the small intestine
can be shortened and straightened to make the passage of the inner endoscope easier. The balloon
may then be deflated so that the overtube can be inserted further and the
endoscope advanced again.The endoscope itself is a standard endoscope with working channels
that allow the intestine to be inflated with air, rinsed with water, or
to guide biopsy or electrocautery instruments to the tip of the endoscope.
Abdominal pain is pain in the belly and can be acute or chronic. Causes include inflammation, distention of an organ, and loss of the blood supply to an organ. Abdominal pain can reflect a major problem with one of the organs in the abdomen such as the appendix, gallbladder, large and small intestine, pancreas, liver, colon, duodenum, and spleen.
Crohn's disease is a chronic inflammatory disease,
primarily involving the small and large intestine, but which can
affect other parts of the digestive system as well. Abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, fever, and weight loss are
common symptoms.
Digestion is the complex process of turning food you eat into the energy you need to survive. The digestive process also involves creating waste to be eliminated, and is made of a series of muscles that coordinate the movement of food.
An upper gastrointestinal
(GI) series (barium swallow), is a radiological test that is used to visualize the
structures of the upper digestive
system - the esophagus, stomach and duodenum. If it is desired to
see the remaining parts of the small intestine, a small bowel series
can be added to the test. These structures
are seen during the examination, and the images are also are
saved for further review on X-ray film or digital
images. The results of an upper GI series can reveal conditions such as
ulcers,
tumors, hiatal hernias, scarring, blockages, and abnormalities of the muscular
wall of the gastrointestinal tissues.
What are the risks of an upper GI series?
Any x-ray test procedure involves some risk from radiation
exposure. The radiation exposure is minimized by standard techniques
that have been assigned and approved by national and international
radiology ...
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