Gastrointestinal tract in motion
The patient drinks barium in portions under the control of a screen: one can see how the contrast passes through the esophagus (spasms, achalasia - “bird’s beak”, Zenker’s diverticula), fills the stomach (peristaltic waves, tone, cascade stomach), is evacuated through the pylorus (stenosis - delayed evacuation), is thrown back (gastroesophageal and duodenogastric reflux), whether the stomach exits into the chest cavity during straining (hernia UNDER). The copy answers functional questions that gastroscopy does not solve, and the methods complement each other: endoscopy sees the mucous membrane, x-rays see motility and anatomy.
Indications
- acute abdominal pain - exclusion of obstruction and perforation (survey image);
- dysphagia, stomach pain, suspicion of an ulcer and tumor—scopy/barium graph;
- injuries and pain in the pelvic area - photographs of the pelvic bones;
- fistulas after operations and inflammation - fistulography;
- control of the chest organs in motion (diaphragm, mediastinum).
Copy and graphics
X-ray is a picture that records the condition of an organ; fluoroscopy - real-time observation showing motility: peristalsis of the stomach and intestines, mobility of the diaphragm, the passage of barium through the esophagus and pylorus. Therefore, for functional tasks (impaired swallowing, gastric evacuation, suspected dynamic obstruction), a copy is used, and to document the morphology (ulcer niche, filling defect in a tumor, mucosal relief) a series of targeted images is used; often methods are combined in one study.
