“It’s so uncomfortable, I don’t want to do it anymore!” Mr. Liao had a standard gastroscopy for a stomach ulcer and felt so much pain that he “vowed” never to have a gastroscopy again. But the disease was relentless and his condition required him to undergo regular gastroscopy reviews. Out of desperation, he came back to Concordia Hospital for a gastroscopy review. After the examination, he said, he felt completely different, and the nausea when the gastroscope passed through his throat and the discomfort when examining various parts of his stomach were significantly reduced, and he would never be afraid of annual gastroscopy again. A male patient of week sex after esophageal cancer surgery could not be examined by ordinary gastroscopy because of the narrow anastomosis, but he passed the narrow anastomosis smoothly by ultra-fine gastroscopy, and finished all the examinations in just a few minutes, and also received metal stent placement under the direct vision of ultra-fine gastroscopy, which solved the problem of eating without obvious discomfort. It turns out that Wuhan Union Hospital has recently introduced the nickname “mini spaghetti type” ultra-fine electronic gastroscope, can be inserted through the nasal air for upper gastrointestinal examination, which is about to overturn the traditional impression of the past. In the hospital to see, the newly introduced in the world’s leading ultra-fine electronic gastroscope, only about 5 mm in diameter, one-half of the diameter of an ordinary gastroscope, and as soft and smooth as noodles. The ultra-fine gastroscope can be inserted through the nostrils, greatly reducing the pain of patients, avoiding the defects of ordinary gastroscopy so that many patients vomit, pain and fear, and shorten the examination time, with the advantages of high image clarity. Because of the small size, it also makes the small lesions in the gastrointestinal “nowhere to hide”, leaving no “privacy”! It is especially suitable for the elderly, children, sensitive people and patients with esophageal strictures. The mother of a child who had been examined in the endoscopy center of the Union Hospital said that her 8-year-old son needed a gastroscopy due to gastrointestinal bleeding. At first, she refused the examination because she was distressed that her child was suffering, but after seeing the comparison between ultra-fine gastroscopy and standard gastroscopy, she was quickly disarmed. During the examination, the child did not cry at all, and the whole examination process was very easy and natural. Ren Hongyu, Department of Gastroenterology, Wuhan Union Medical College Hospital
Since the introduction of endoscopy, the instruments have been continuously improved, and in the 1970s and 1980s, the outside diameter of routine gastroscopy was 10-11 mm, and in the 1990s it was slimmed down to 9-10 mm, with an internal diameter of 2.8 mm for the biopsy clamp orifice, which can pass through the commonly used therapeutic instruments. However, even if the outer diameter was reduced to about 10 mm, there were still more patients who could not tolerate the examination and had a greater fear of gastroscopy. The introduction of painless gastroscopy has greatly reduced the pain of patients, but this technique requires sedation and anesthesia after all. It would be nice if patients could undergo gastroscopy painlessly without anesthesia! The ultra-fine electronic gastroscope, with a diameter of only 5 mm, is only the size of a chopstick and has good insertion, making patients feel less painful, comfortable and safe. Compared with the ordinary electronic gastroscope, ultra-fine electronic gastroscope has a variety of new features, clear image, brightness, small lesions on the tissue can also be “clear”, known as the “scout” to capture the lesions in the patient’s stomach. It is not only suitable for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of inflammation, ulcers and tumors in the upper gastrointestinal tract, especially esophageal or gastric anastomotic strictures, but also for emergency examination of foreign bodies in the upper gastrointestinal tract and unexplained upper gastrointestinal bleeding because it does not require preparation time for anesthesia. Ultra-fine gastroscopy has also shown to be safer and more convenient for infants and children, elderly and critically ill patients. In the hospital’s gastroenterology clinic, the ultra-fine diameter electronic gastroscope has attracted a lot of interest from the public. “I didn’t expect the ultra-fine gastroscope to be thinner than a chopstick for eating. Normal gastroscopy requires anesthesia to do the examination, does ultra-fine gastroscopy also require anesthesia to do the examination?” “Can the ultra-fine gastroscope do the same treatment as a regular gastroscope?” “Is it really painless to perform an ultra-fine gastroscopy?” . In the face of the patients’ questions one by one, gastroenterology director Hou Xiaohua patiently answered one by one. Director Hou introduced: ultra-fine diameter electronic gastroscope body slim and soft, easy and flexible operation, no anesthesia during the examination. Because of the most advanced digital imaging technology, the image is clearer and more realistic than ordinary electronic gastroscope, so the diagnostic accuracy is higher. Ultra-fine gastroscopy can be used not only for examination of stomach and esophageal diseases, but also for treatment, such as microscopic gastric bleeding to stop bleeding, injection of drugs, and removal of foreign bodies. The advantages of ultra-fine gastroscopy for the examination and treatment of patients with esophageal strictures are even more obvious, as it can be used to dilate esophageal strictures and place stents in the esophagus, solving the feeding problems of patients with esophageal strictures and improving the quality of life of patients.
Gastrointestinal diseases are highly prevalent and potentially harmful, and are difficult to detect by ordinary examinations (including ultrasound). The symptoms are not obvious and can be easily ignored. For example, gastrointestinal tumors, once detected, are mostly in the middle and late stages. Gastroscopy and colonoscopy are the most intuitive and accurate means of examination that cannot be replaced by any other methods, and developed countries such as Japan have long listed them as routine medical examination items. Therefore, it is recommended that people with any gastrointestinal discomfort undergo electronic gastroscopy and colonoscopy in a timely manner. With the improvement of medical conditions and economic level, people are concerned about their own health and do not want to reduce the quality of life, so humanized treatment technology is increasingly popular. In the future, ultra-fine gastroscopy may become as popular as barium x-ray, taking care of people’s health in daily life.
Ren Hongyu, Associate Professor, Department of Gastroenterology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology