There are many people with upset stomachs who visit hospitals and doctors often ask patients to have a gastroscopy. Patients with dysphagia and suspected esophageal lesions also undergo gastroscopy, but those who have undergone gastroscopy feel that it is uncomfortable and want their doctors to provide a less painful test instead. Is there a test that can replace gastroscopy? To be very clear, there is not. Perhaps you can find many small clinics on the street advertising a non-intubated, painless investigation of stomach problems. They will claim that they have introduced the most advanced equipment in the world that can replace gastroscopy for stomach diseases. However, when you go to all the big regular hospitals, there is no such equipment that can replace the gastroscope. You think: if there is such a good instrument, small clinics can afford it, and big hospitals can’t afford it? Therefore, you should not blindly believe in advertisements when you see a doctor. The alternative to gastroscopy promoted by small clinics is at most a cheap, low-end B ultrasound, which is not comparable to the B ultrasound in regular hospitals, which does have a role in the diagnosis of gastric diseases, but is far behind many other tests. In addition to gastroscopy, barium meal and multi-row spiral CT have some value in the diagnosis of gastric disease, but they cannot replace gastroscopy. The advantage of gastroscopy is that it is intuitive and accurate, and it also allows to take tissue at the suspected lesion site and examine the removed tissue under a microscope to clarify the type of lesion. Important: Gastric cancer, with atypical early symptoms, has no different clinical manifestations from ordinary gastric diseases. Except for surgery, gastroscopy is the only examination means that can confirm the diagnosis of gastric cancer and esophageal cancer. During gastroscopy, polyps, bleeding spots and other lesions found can be treated directly under gastroscopy. Gastroscopy is a bit uncomfortable compared to ultrasound. However, since this examination method has been designed and widely promoted and used for a long time, it is certainly tolerable and safe. Moreover, the new generation of gastroscopy has been improved over the old gastroscopy, and the comfort, clarity and accuracy have been greatly improved, and the doctors operating the gastroscopy are more skilled, so there is no need to be afraid of gastroscopy. If you really can’t stand it or are afraid, you can choose painless gastroscopy. Painless gastroscopy is to do gastroscopy after anesthesia, after the patient is injected intravenously with anesthesia, the patient completes the examination in complete ignorance, and the patient has no discomfort. The disadvantage is that the cost increases, as a normal gastroscopy costs only 210 yuan, while a painless gastroscopy costs more than 600 yuan (depending on the amount of anesthetic used). Capsule gastroscopy is a micro-camera made into a capsule, and the patient only needs to swallow the capsule gastroscope like an oral cold capsule, and the comfort level is high. The advantage is that it can examine the small intestine which cannot be reached by gastroscopy, but the diagnosis of esophageal and gastric diseases is not as good as gastroscopy, and it is expensive, close to 10,000 yuan for one examination.