Radioscopy of the stomach is a fairly common diagnostic method in medical practice. It is this study that helps to identify many diseases and functional disorders: neoplasms (benign and malignant), peptic ulcer, protrusion of the walls of the organ.
Radioscopy of the stomach provides an opportunity to find out the size, shape, position of the organ and its departments, assess the condition and integrity of the walls, determine the capabilities of the sphincters (circular muscles that are located in the walls of the stomach and separate the organ from the esophagus cavity when it is compressed). There may be several reasons for the doctor to refer you to such a study:
- predisposition to tumor diseases;
- suspected peptic ulcer;
- malformations of the stomach;
- diverticulum (deformation of the walls of the stomach);
- inflammatory processes;
- violation of swallowing;
- pain in the navel;
- blood in the stool;
- unreasonable burping and weight loss.
Contraindications for examination
If there are reasons why the patient will be harmful to fluoroscopy and radiography of the stomach, more gentle methods, for example, fibrogastroscopy, are chosen for examination. Indications for choosing this procedure are as follows:
- severe condition;
- pregnancy (especially in the first trimester);
- bleeding (gastric and intestinal).
How does a fluoroscopy of the stomach go?
This research method is carried out using contrast. Our stomach is a hollow organ, and to obtain an image we have to fill it with a special substance (barium salt), which does not transmit x-rays. Radiography of the stomach can also be carried out by the method of double contrast, when air (under pressure) is introduced into the stomach along with salts. This makes it possible to expand, slightly enlarge the stomach and fill all the folds of the mucosa with a contrast agent. This increases the quality of the diagnosis. Next, the image of the filled organ will be projected onto the screen. The first thing that experts do is an x-ray of the abdominal cavity. This allows you to identify a gross pathology, and after receiving the contrast, pictures are taken in different positions (on the back, on the side, standing). Radioscopy of the stomach is also performed during an examination of the gastrointestinal tract.
How to prepare for the process?
There are no particularly strict rules. If you do not have disturbances in the
functions of the stomach and intestines, then the only condition is a ban on eating six or eight hours before the examination. Patients who have pathologies are recommended to go on a diet three days before the procedure. You need to exclude the use of dairy products, sweets, sodas, cabbage. This is necessary to reduce gas formation. You can include lean meat, eggs, fish, and some cereals that need to be cooked in water in the diet. If you have increased flatulence or constipation, then you will have to have a cleansing enema and gastric lavage. Specialists who examine the gastrointestinal tract are a gastroenterologist, diagnostician, radiologist and an ultrasound doctor.