Colonoscopy Surgery What Can Be Done?

Colonoscopy has come a long way from the rather rudimentary beginnings to the current advanced techniques that can be preformed through a video colonoscope.

A video colonoscope is a long flexible bundle of fiber optic fibers with a powerful light source and cables inside the instrument that allow for directional changes in the scope as it passes through the bowel lumen.

The device has channels along the device that carry air to insufflate the colon and another channel that can be used to spray water across the lens and clean it as the devise is passed through the colon.

There are also from one to three additional channels that can be used to pass a variety of instruments to preform simple and complex surgical procedures inside the colon.

The simplest procedure is just the aspiration of intestinal contents for culture and analysis for parasites. Next would be biopsy in which a small piece of the colon wall is removed for analysis under a microscope for diagnostic purposes.

A small needle can be passed through the scope and the colon wall injected to elevate a flat lesion or polyp, destroy blood vessels and stop bleeding, or to tatoo and mark the site of a polyp or lesion.

Of course the most common surgical procedure is the removal of polyps by the use of snares or biopst forcepts. Very large lesions can be removed with serial excisions.

Narrowed areas of the colon can be dilated with balloons passed through the scope to increase the size of these narrowed areas.

Newer procedures include the use of small stapeling devises to close colon openings. Surgical clips can be used to control bleeding in the colon. Currently new techniques to operate throught the colon wall and do a variety of abdominal procedures like gallbladder removal are under investigation.

Ultrasound and biopsy through the colon wall is also being evaluated.

Colonoscopic surgery is still in its infancy but given the current interest in minimally invasive surgery one can anticipte that these procedures will continue to be developed and offer an exciting altrernative to current surgical procedures.

Given the ready availability of colonoscopy and the proven benefit of polyp removal to reduce the incidence of colon cancer, there is no excuse. If you have not had a colonoscopy and are greater than 50 years of age then discuss this with your physician and get a referral for a colonoscopy today. Help stamp out colon cancer now.