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The gastrointestinal tract starts at the mouth to the anus through the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine and rectum. All except the small intestine, where it is also extremely rare that there are malignant tumors, are accessible to biopsy with the help of endoscope.

The endoscope is a tube in which they incorporated a video camera, a light and a channel through which they work and obtain biopsies. Most are flexible and can circumvent the angles of the digestive tract. When the endoscope inserted through the mouth or anus (colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy then called, according to the length) leads to the lesion to be analyzed and through the working channel is introduced a clip that grasps the tissue sample.

The acquisition of these biopsies are painful and discomfort refer to themselves of endoscopy (abdominal distension by gas, nausea and shortness of breath in oral endoscopy) and preparation (by laxatives nausea, cramps). Complications of obtaining the biopsy are rare and the most important are bleeding in the biopsy area and the possibility of puncturing the bowel and cause peritonitis.

Biopsies are done to complete the endoscopic procedure in many lesions: benign and malignant tumors, inflammatory bowel disease, peptic ulcer, esophagitis, etc.

credit to: Dr. Antonio Barrasa Shaw, Dr. Carl J. Brandt, Dr. John Pillinger, Dr. Philip Owen

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