Enjoy the delicious food during the Spring Festival, but don’t let your stomach and intestines cry for help. Find out more about it through a gastroenteroscopy!

The Spring Festival is always full of delicious food temptations. From dumplings, which symbolize reunion, to a variety of sumptuous dishes, while everyone is enjoying the feast of food, their gastrointestinal tract may be quietly "protesting".

With the improvement of living standards and the acceleration of the pace of life, the incidence of gastrointestinal diseases is increasing. During the Spring Festival, changes in eating habits and irregular lifestyles have increased the burden on the gastrointestinal tract. At this time, we might as well learn about the "secret weapon" to protect gastrointestinal health - gastroenteroscopy.

1. Why do we need to do gastrointestinal endoscopy?

Experts from the Xiangdong Hospital affiliated to Hunan Normal University remind that during the Spring Festival, people visit relatives and friends and have dinner together. Spicy, greasy, and pickled foods fill the dining table, and the frequency of drinking and eating supper has also greatly increased. Such eating habits can easily irritate the gastrointestinal tract, leading to abdominal pain, bloating, indigestion and other problems. Moreover, the early symptoms of gastrointestinal diseases are often not obvious, or only manifest as some atypical symptoms, which are easily overlooked. By the time obvious symptoms such as blood in the stool, vomiting blood, and severe abdominal pain appear, the disease may have developed to the middle and late stages.

Gastroenteroscopy is like a "scout" of the gastrointestinal tract. It can directly observe the internal conditions of the esophagus, stomach, duodenum and large intestine, and detect tiny lesions such as inflammation, ulcers, polyps, early tumors, etc.

By taking a biopsy of the suspected lesion, the nature of the lesion can be determined, providing an accurate basis for subsequent treatment. During the special period of the Spring Festival, paying attention to gastrointestinal health and undergoing a gastroenteroscopy can detect potential problems in a timely manner, allowing us to eat with more peace of mind.

2. Gastrointestinal endoscopy process

1. Gastroscopy

Before a gastroscopy, patients need to fast for 6-8 hours to ensure that the stomach is empty and convenient for the doctor to observe. During the examination, the patient usually lies on the left side, and the doctor will insert a thin tube with a camera (gastroscope) through the mouth into the esophagus, stomach and duodenum.

During the insertion process, the patient may feel some discomfort, such as nausea and vomiting, but as long as they relax and cooperate, this discomfort is usually short-lived. The entire gastroscopy process generally takes about 5 to 15 minutes, depending on the patient's condition and degree of cooperation.

2. Colonoscopy

The preparations before colonoscopy are relatively complicated. Patients need to start eating a low-residue diet 1-2 days before the examination and take laxatives the night before the examination to clean the intestines. Only when the intestines are clean can the doctor clearly observe the intestinal mucosa.

During the examination, the patient lies on his left side, and the doctor inserts the colonoscope through the anus into the rectum, and then gradually advances it into the colon and cecum. Similar to gastroscopy, patients may also feel discomfort such as bloating and abdominal pain during the colonoscopy, but most people can tolerate it. The duration of a colonoscopy is generally about 10-30 minutes.

Advantages of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

1. Intuitive and accurate

Gastroenteroscopy can directly see the lesions inside the gastrointestinal tract, and can clearly observe the shape, size, location, etc. of the lesions. It can also take photos and videos, providing a more intuitive basis for diagnosis. In comparison, X-ray, CT and other examinations are not as accurate as gastroenteroscopy in diagnosing small lesions.

2. Biopsy and treatment are possible

During the gastrointestinal endoscopy, if suspicious lesions are found, the doctor can use biopsy forceps to take a small piece of tissue for pathological examination to clarify the nature of the lesion. In addition, some early gastrointestinal tumors, polyps and other lesions can be removed under the gastrointestinal endoscopy to avoid the trauma and pain of open surgery.

3. High security

With the continuous advancement of medical technology, the safety of gastrointestinal endoscopy has been greatly improved. Before the examination, the doctor will comprehensively evaluate the patient's physical condition and rule out contraindications to the examination. During the examination, the doctor is skilled in the operation and has complete monitoring equipment to detect and deal with possible complications in a timely manner.

4. Who needs a gastrointestinal endoscopy?

1. People who have gastrointestinal symptoms, such as abdominal pain, bloating, indigestion, acid reflux, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, blood in the stool, black stool, etc.

2. People with a family history of gastrointestinal diseases, such as gastric cancer, intestinal cancer, esophageal cancer, etc.

3. For people over 40 years old, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not, it is recommended to undergo a gastrointestinal endoscopy as a screening.

4. People who suffer from long-term diseases such as gastric ulcer, duodenal ulcer, chronic atrophic gastritis, gastric polyps, colorectal polyps, etc. need to undergo regular gastrointestinal endoscopy to observe changes in their condition.

5. People who have long-term bad eating habits, such as liking to eat spicy, greasy, pickled food, smoking, drinking, etc.

5. Precautions for gastrointestinal endoscopy

(1) Before the inspection

1. Tell your doctor in detail your medical history, history of drug allergies, etc. so that the doctor can assess the risks of the examination.

2. Prepare for diet and intestinal cleaning according to the doctor's requirements.

3. It is best to have a family member accompany you on the day of the examination so that they can take care of the patient after the examination.

(2) After inspection

1. After gastroscopy, since the pharyngeal anesthetic effect has not yet disappeared, the patient should fast for 2 hours and eat warm, easily digestible food after the anesthetic effect disappears.

2. After the colonoscopy, the patient may feel abdominal distension and pain, which is caused by the gas injected during the examination. Generally, the symptoms will gradually ease after the gas is discharged. Appropriate activities can be performed after the examination to promote the discharge of gas.

3. If abdominal pain or distension worsens, or blood in the stool or vomiting of blood occurs after the examination, you should inform the doctor immediately.

During the joyous Spring Festival, don’t forget to pay attention to gastrointestinal health. For the health of ourselves and our families, let us correctly understand gastrointestinal endoscopy, actively carry out gastrointestinal health screening, and achieve early detection, early diagnosis, and early treatment, so that our gastrointestinal tract can be relaxed and free of burden in the new year.

Hunan Medical Chat Special Author: Cao Weijuan, Department of Gastroenterology, Xiangdong Hospital Affiliated to Hunan Normal University

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(Edited by YT)