Therapeutic digestive endoscopy II.

Digestive endoscopy today is able to examine the whole gastrointestinal tract. On the basis of the originally purely diagnostic procedures a range of therapeutic modalities was developed over years, which in some indications have taken the place of surgical procedures and methods of invasive radiology. Apart from the methods of endoscopic resection of early neoplasms of the digestive tract, digestive endoscopy plays an important role in diagnosing and treatment of bleeding and stenoses of the gastrointestinal tract. Plastic or self-expansible metal stents are introduced in the treatment of stenoses. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography is a combined procedure capable of probing and intervening in the bile ducts and pancreatic duct under skiascopic control. Their direct visualization is possible with the method of oral cholangiopancreatoscopy. Endosonography-guided drainage and subsequent endoscopic necrectomy have become mini-invasive alternatives in the treatment of peripancreatic fluid collections. Key words: digestive endoscopy - endoscopic dilatation - endoscopic hemostasis - endoscopic retrograde chol-angiopancreatography - endosonography - cholangiopancreatography - stents.