[Health Lecture] Gastroenteroscopy - an examination item that the elderly should also pay attention to!

In order to ensure the popularization effect of learning health knowledge in the 3rd China Elderly Health Knowledge Competition, the organizers have collected various health science articles suitable for elderly people to learn from various hospitals. We will share them through the "Health Lecture Hall" column. Today, Wang Zhifei, a nurse from the Endoscopy Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of the Naval Medical University, brought us "Gastrointestinal Endoscopy - An Examination Item that the Elderly Should Also Pay Attention to". Elderly friends are welcome to learn.

Five situations that the elderly must pay attention to!

The first type: Elderly people with obvious digestive tract discomfort symptoms, such as frequent abdominal pain, bloating, constipation, blood in the stool, etc.

The second type: elderly people at high risk of digestive tract diseases, those whose parents or siblings have a history of esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, or colorectal cancer, those who are infected with Helicobacter pylori, those who like to eat pickled or hot food, and those who do not like to exercise.

The third type: elderly people with common digestive tract diseases, such as ulcers, polyps, atrophic gastritis, etc.

The fourth type: elderly people who have never had a gastrointestinal endoscopy. According to the guidelines for early gastrointestinal cancer screening, people aged 40 to 45 years old should undergo a routine gastrointestinal endoscopy.

The fifth type: elderly people with elevated tumor markers. Elderly people with elevated digestive tract tumor markers such as CEA, CA199, and CA742 during routine blood tests.

Through gastroenteroscopy, we can not only detect the presence of lesions in the esophagus, stomach, duodenum, colon, rectum and other parts at an early stage, but also perform endoscopic minimally invasive treatments for various early digestive tract diseases, especially endoscopic dissection of early cancers, which can not only cure them but also greatly improve the quality of life of the elderly!

Can the elderly still choose to undergo painless gastroscopy?

Many elderly people will ask, "I am older and afraid of the pain of gastroscopy. Can I choose a painless one?" At this time, elderly friends can pay attention to the following three suggestions:

1. Can the elderly undergo painless gastroscopy?

With the progress of anesthesia medicine, many anesthetic drugs that are more suitable for patients and have fewer adverse reactions are being updated. Moreover, the anesthesia performed by painless gastroenteroscopy is only basic intravenous anesthesia. These drugs have a sedative and hypnotic effect, with relatively low risk and high safety.

2. Different medical institutions have different age limits for painless gastroscopy.

Conventional painless gastroenteroscopy is a procedure where the anesthesiologist administers a certain dose of short-acting anesthetics intravenously, which allows the patient to quickly enter a state of sedation and sleep, complete the gastroenteroscopy without any awareness, and quickly wake up after the examination. In terms of the age limit for anesthesia safety, medical institutions have set 70 years old as the bottom line for anesthesia. With the advancement and development of anesthesia technology, some medical institutions have expanded the age limit to 80 years old. However, no matter what age is used as the bottom line for anesthesia for painless gastroenteroscopy, elderly friends must understand the doctor's original intention of considering safety!

3. I have passed the anesthesia assessment, why did the anesthesiologist say I cannot be anesthetized on the day of the examination?

Before performing painless gastroscopy, the anesthesiologist needs to conduct an anesthetic assessment on the patient, including the following: (1) heart, lung, and nervous system diseases; (2) snoring and sleep apnea syndrome; (3) history of drug allergies, current medications, and potential interactions between drugs; (4) history of adverse reactions to sedatives or anesthetics;

(5) Recent meal time and food type; (6) Smoking, drinking, and drug abuse, etc. Since the appointment cycle of most hospitals ranges from a few days to dozens of days, there is a long period of time from appointment, anesthesia evaluation to the day of examination. During this period, many minor symptoms such as COVID-19 infection and cold may appear. However, it is these seemingly mild "minor symptoms" that may lead to various complications during anesthesia due to failure to evaluate them in time, which may threaten the patient's life in severe cases!

Therefore, elderly friends, please do not think that the doctor’s repeated questions are too troublesome. A comprehensive assessment of your medical history is responsible for your safety.

About the Author:

Wang Zhifei is a nurse at the Endoscopy Center of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Naval Medical University. Currently, she is mainly engaged in digestive endoscopy diagnosis and treatment nursing related work.