What is an Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS)?  
Endoscopic Ultrasound is a minimally invasive procedure which helps to assess various parts of your body in a greater detail with accuracy and precision. In this an inbuilt ultrasound which transmits high frequency ultrasound waves for in-depth assessment of your body systems. It is proven to be more accurate and superior to conventional ultrasound and other imaging modalities like MRCP for identifying certain disorders like stone in biliary tree and small sized cancers which can easily be overlooked in traditional imaging.

What are the various adjunct procedures that can be done with EUS? 
EUS can be combined with FNAC (Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology) or biopsy. If not for EUS and biopsy, the only alternative left in certain circumstances is the option of operative biopsy. Thus, technically it can avoid surgery in certain circumstances.

Who needs to undergo an EUS procedure?
   1.If you are having stones in your bile-duct (either confirmed or suspected).
   2.If you are having cancer or cancer like lesion in your gastrointestinal tract, liver, pancreas etc.
   3.If you are having a cystic lesion of pancreas or liver.
   4.It also helps in accurate sampling of various tissues where your doctor has either suspicion of cancer or for establishing diagnosis of various other diseases like tuberculosis or sarcoidosis.
  5.It is also used for accurate staging of various cancers which are located within the gastrointestinal system.

 How is the procedure of EUS done?
It is typically done in an elective setting on an outpatient basis after a period of overnight fasting. It is usually done under sedation (a lighter form of anaesthesia). Entire procedure will be briefed to you by the nursing personnel who will be accompanying and assisting you during the entire procedure. Thin, flexible fully sterilized endoscope is gently inserted into your mouth under the vision while you are comfortable lying over a couch in prone position. The procedure is typically painless, and the duration of the procedure is dependent upon your disease. Once the procedure is completed you will have only minor abdominal and throat discomfort which settles within a span of few minutes. Post-procedure you will be able to resume your daily routine after consultation with your doctor.  

 What are the various complications related to the EUS and its adjunct procedures?
The procedure is extremely safe in reliable hands. The incidence of complications is quite low. However, the complications that are to be kept in mind varies from patient to patient and disease to disease. Your doctor usually explains them in detail before the procedure. Usual complications include bleeding, injury to the adjacent structure etc.  

 Is the procedure of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and EUS completely sterile??
To maintain the sterility and aseptic precautions various hospitals adapt different techniques. This is the least talked about part of the entire endoscopic procedure flow-chart. With increasing awareness of various hospital borne infections and emergence of pandemic in the form of COVID-19 sterilisation of endoscopes is gaining much more importance. Simple wiping of endoscopes or chemical disinfection for brief period is no longer the standard of care. Endoscopic reprocessors and automated endoscopic washers are the new gold standard disinfection process. When performed with proper aseptic precautions and standard of care disinfection procedures endoscopy is completely sterile procedure.

Who should be performing upper gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures?
Medical or Surgical Gastroenterologists are the qualified doctors who usually perform this procedure. Qualification and experience are the two main assets which enable your doctor to identify and treat your problem in a sound and confident manner. It is ideal to get treated in a place where team of doctors are available than an institution or hospital with single doctor or single speciality.

Why should you get your upper gastrointestinal endoscopic procedure done at the Harini Hospital?
To begin with, patient evaluation process and decision making are based on international standards and guidelines.  Our centre is the only tertiary care private gastroenterology centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh to have a team of doctors which compromises of both medical (DM gastroenterology) and surgical specialities (Mch Surgical gastroenterology) who reside in-house. Combined experience of the team is greater than any other gastroenterology hospital in our state. Our experience and expertise are backed by adaptation of technology and bringing the most advanced endoscopic systems in the world available for our people in our state. We perform endoscopic procedures using Fujifilm Lazario endoscopes and Olympus 190 endoscopes with entire armamentarium of Narrow band imaging, blue laser imaging, linked colour imaging included in our basket. Complete chain of aseptic precautions is taken, and sterility is ensured all through the process. Advanced automated endoscope reprocessors ensure highest form of sterility and guarantee that there is no chance of hospital acquired infection.  4 dedicated endoscopic suites are available where the procedures are continuously performed as per the scheduled time; there are attached waiting rooms for attenders and recovery rooms for the patient.We are proud to say that this top-notch high-end technology is introduced for the first time in our state at Harini hospitals (there are only two other places in our where it is available). Harini hospitals is the only exclusive tertiary gastro care centre in the state of Andhra Pradesh to offer all such services under single roof, thus making quality care with international standards accessible to the people.

Myths and Facts about endoscopy