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Colonoscope
A colonoscope is used to perform a colonoscopy. The colonoscope is a long, thin, flexible tube that has a tiny fiber-optic video camera and light at the end of it. To perform a colonoscopy, a gastroenterologist will insert a colonoscope into the rectum of the patient and slowly guide it into the colon. The colonoscope is able to bend and flex, and by adjusting the various controls of the colonoscope, the gastroenterologist can carefully maneuver the colonoscope in any direction to investigate the interior of the colon. The colonoscope produces a high quality picture displayed on a monitor, providing a clear, detailed view of the colon. The colonoscope also blows air into the colon, inflating it and enabling the physician to better see the interior of the organ.
Colonoscopes include extra ports that have multiple applications. They can be used for irrigation, suction, and to infuse or withdraw liquids and gasses. They can be used for passing small surgical instruments such as scissors, forceps, scalpels, brushes, snares, or baskets for tissue removal, sampling, surgeries, cauterization, biopsies, cutting, grasping, and other procedures. The use of these devices has enabled viewing and treatment within the colon to be achieved without major surgery in many cases.
Colonoscopy is a safe and effective way to identify, evaluate, and treat problems and abnormalities associated with:
- Blood loss
- Cancer
- Changes in bowel habits
- Chronic diarrhea
- Crohn’s disease
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Inflamed tissues
- Lesions
- Pain
- Polyps
- Ulcers
- Ulcerative colitis
- Weight loss
The procedure has been in wide use in the medical profession since 1969. According to an article in the American Journal of Gastroenterology by W.I. Wolff with the Department of Surgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York:
Retrograde colonoscopy of the entire colon, and endoscopic excision of polyps from anywhere in the colon, began in June and September of 1969, respectively. Momentous advances have occurred...and the two procedures are now widely accepted and practiced. Development and perfection of the methodology were, at first, fraught with many difficulties, both procedural and technical, which had to be overcome. Significant opposition was engendered in the early years by some who claimed that the methods were both unnecessary and unduly dangerous. Time has proven otherwise. Progress came about as the result of a steady stream of publications from a number of centers documenting the successful and safe application of the methodology.
Modern colonoscopies are quite advanced and as technology progress, the methodology will continue to become more sophisticated. As it stands, colonoscopy is far more precise than using x-rays to evaluate the colon. A recent innovation in this modality is in the realm of “virtual colonoscopy.” Virtual computed tomographic virtual colonoscopy (VCT), otherwise referred to as virtual colonoscopy, utilizes radiographic images obtained by CT technology (CAT scans) to produce two and three-dimensional images of the colon. VCT appears to offer significant promise as a screening modality. The process avoids the need, and risks, of sedation. It also avoids the risk of instrument perforation associated with optical colonoscopy and is far more efficient time-wise. Though these procedures are possible as a totally non-invasive medical test, it is not standard and still under investigation by the medical community.
The colonoscopes we carry are on the cutting edge of modern technology and represent only one category of the many scopes we carry:
- Duodenoscopes
- Endoscopes
- Gastroscopes
- Sigmoidoscopes
If you have any questions or need further assistance after evaluating our inventory, please call us at 1-877-706-4480. Our staff of medical equipment specialist is standing by to help you.