Endoscopy

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Veterinary medicine can be very challenging, such as the inability to communicate directly with our patients. Another challenge is not being able to look directly at vital areas of the pet’s anatomy. Endoscopy can go where our hands and eyes can’t.

The endoscope is a flexible and narrow tube with a video camera on the end. It can be passed in areas such as the trachea, lower airways, esophagus, stomach and colon. The video can be shown on a monitor to get a direct evaluation of vital anatomy.

Besides a direct visualization of the hollow internal organs that can show disease, instruments can be passed through the endoscope to biopsy important structures. This can be invaluable in diagnosing and therefore treating difficult diseases.

Since the organs are viewed in real time, the result of what is seen is known immediately. However, if a biopsy was taken, the final diagnosis usually depends on the results of the pathologist’s study. This may take up to a week, depending on the individual circumstances.

At our hospital, we also have rigid endoscopy. These scopes are not flexible but are very narrow and can be inserted into the nasal passageways, joints, or the abdomen to assist in diagnosis and treatment of many different kinds of diseases.