Gastroscopy & Colonoscopy
A minimally invasive procedure with gentle sedation used to visualise the inside of your gastrointestinal tract to investigate why you may not be feeling great.
Gastroscopy and colonoscopy are essential investigations for the screening, diagnosis, and management of gastrointestinal conditions, providing a complete assessment of both the upper and lower digestive tract.
Gastroscopy (upper endoscopy)
Used to investigate symptoms such as upper abdominal pain, acid reflux, heartburn, difficulty swallowing, nausea, vomiting, iron-deficiency anaemia, and unexplained weight loss. It allows accurate diagnosis of conditions including gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD), oesophagitis, Barrett’s oesophagus, gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, coeliac disease, and upper gastrointestinal cancers.
Colonoscopy
Is the gold-standard test for assessing lower abdominal pain, change in bowel habit, diarrhoea, constipation, rectal bleeding, iron-deficiency anaemia, and for colorectal cancer screening and surveillance. It enables detection and removal of bowel polyps, diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease, microscopic colitis, diverticular disease, and colorectal cancer. Both procedures allow targeted biopsies and early identification of pre-cancerous and cancerous conditions, improving long-term outcomes through timely treatment.
HOW ARE they performed?
Gastroscopy
The gastroscope is passed through the mouth down into the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum. Reasons you might need a gastroscopy include indigestion, upper abdominal pain, bleeding, nausea, vomiting or difficulty swallowing. This procedure is used to diagnose ulcers or inflammation in the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum, as well as hiatus hernias and cancerous changes in the upper gastrointestinal tract.
Colonoscopy
The colonoscope is passed into the rectum and colon. It is used to detect polyps and visualise inflamed tissue and cancers, such as colorectal cancer. It can help diagnose unexplained changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, bleeding from the bowel and weight loss.