Endoscopic ultrasound

If your doctor needs more information about your digestive health, you may be referred for an endoscopic ultrasound evaluation.

An endoscopic ultrasound is used to get images and information about your digestive tract and surrounding tissue and organs. Endoscopy involves the insertion of a long, flexible tube through your mouth or anus. Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to produce images.

During this procedure, an ultrasound instrument is placed on the tip of the endoscope. Since the transducer is so close to your organs and tissues, the images obtained are often more accurate and detailed than with traditional ultrasounds.

Pinpointing a diagnosis

Performed by a specially trained gastroenterologist while you're sedated, endoscopic ultrasound is helpful when other tests are inconclusive or conflicting. The complication rate is also very low.

Take a closer look at what endoscopic ultrasound can do:

• Help with the diagnosis and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers, common bile duct stones, gallstones, chronic pancreatitis or cysts of the pancreas.
• Evaluate bile duct abnormalities, including stones in the bile duct or gallbladder or tumors of the bile duct, gallbladder or liver.
• Look for submucosal lesions such as nodules (bumps) hiding in the intestinal wall and covered by intestinal tract lining that looks normal.
• Assess a cancer's depth and spread to adjacent tissues and lymph nodes, helping your doctor determine the stage of digestive and lung cancers.

The specialist also can get tissue samples (biopsies) through a fine needle aspiration with endoscopic ultrasound. Guided by ultrasound, your doctor will pass a special needle into enlarged lymph nodes or suspicious tumors. A pathologist then examines the tissue or cells under a microscope.

Specialized and personalized care

At HonorHealth, our team of gastroenterologists are experts in managing acute and chronic complex gastrointestinal disorders. They have performed thousands of procedures with outcomes that meet or surpass national benchmarks for quality in endoscopy. Their goal is to offer you the best care and highest-quality clinical outcomes.