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Endoscopic Ultrasound Services
If you're having digestive issues, your doctor may suggest an endoscopic ultrasound. Dr. Rafael A. Ching Companioni explains how the process works.
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Learn more about Rafael A. Ching Companioni, MD
Rafael A. Ching Companioni, MD
Dr. Rafael A. Ching Companioni received a Medical Degree from Faculty of Medical Sciences of Ciego de Avila in Camaguey, Cuba. Dr. Ching Companioni completed an internship and residency in Internal Medicine at the Metropolitan Hospital Center - New York Medical College and his fellowship in Gastroenterology at the Elmhurst Hospital Center - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.Learn more about Rafael A. Ching Companioni, MD
Transcription:
Adam Ragusea (Host): Ever get heartburn? Man, I was getting it bad, every day. My doc wanted to look in my stomach, which freaked me out, but it ended up being no sweat. It's called an endoscopic ultra sound. What’s it like? Is it right for you? Let’s ask Dr. Ching Companioni, gastroenterologist at Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.
It’s Helmet of Health, the podcast from Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center. I’m Adam Ragusea and Dr. Companioni, what is endoscopic ultrasound?
Rafael A. Ching Companioni, MD (Guest): Endoscopy ultrasound is a procedure in which we actually we see with the ultrasound machine, organs near to the GI tract, which means the pancreas, liver, adrenal glands, bile ducts, gallbladder.
Host: So, essentially, it’s a way for you to put a camera down a person’s throat and you can see their digestive tract, you can see a lot of the other organs around there? You can see all kinds of things, right?
Dr. Companioni: Yes, we can do it from above, I mean upper endoscopy ultrasound and we can do lower endoscopy ultrasound. For example people with rectal cancer, or people with an abscess near to the rectum, we can see with the endoscopy ultrasound. People with a fistula, and in the rectum, we can see with the endoscopy ultrasound too.
Host: Okay, so let me try to put this in slightly less elegant terms. You can go in through the throat or you can go in through the other end of the digestive tract.
Dr. Companioni: Yes.
Host: Okay. Depending on how close the area of concern is to either of those respective ends of the GI tract. What’s that like for people? Let’s talk about upper. So, going in through the throat. That’s what I had done. I remember it as being very simple. What would that be like in terms of a procedure for a person?
Dr. Companioni: So, usually we do the procedure under anesthesia. Most of the time, we use a medication that we call propofol and the patient they will be asleep during the entire procedure. They won’t feel any pain.
Host: Okay so, they don’t feel any pain. They are asleep when you put the camera down their throat. And then when they wake up, is their throat sore? Do they hurt? What’s it feel like?
Dr. Companioni: I mean it’s like any upper endoscopy the complications that you can have with like a sore throat for a few days. It doesn’t happen in all of the patients. Tears, bleeding and infection can happen but less than one percent, which means it is pretty low. Like any endoscopy procedure.
Host: Yeah, very rare. Okay so, a lower endoscopy, going in through the other end of the digestive tract, a very similar situation? You would put me under, and I would feel maybe a little bit of soreness after, but that’s it?
Dr. Companioni: Usually people with the lower endoscopy ultrasound even they don’t feel any pain after the procedure. I mean during the procedure; they will be under anesthesia. They are sleeping. They don’t feel any pain. Post-procedure they are unlikely to have the complications.
Host: So, you touched on this earlier but what kinds of things could you look for using this technology, this procedure?
Dr. Companioni: With the upper endoscopy ultrasound; we can look for tumors, we can look for a stone inside the gallbladder and the bile duct. We can look for swelling in the pancreas that we call pancreatitis. We can look for cysts in the pancreas and tumors in the pancreas, too.
Host: Okay and then with the lower endoscopic ultrasound; what could you look for using that?
Dr. Companioni: You look for similar things like a tumor, collections like an abscess near to the rectum. The most important in the lower endoscopy ultrasound is that you can see the muscles around the anus and some people they can have fecal incontinence and you can see there is a tear in the sphincter. And people with rectal cancer, part of the staging of the tumor; you want to know how deep is the tumor inside the rectum and the best is the lower endoscopic ultrasound.
Host: So, it sounds like these endoscopic ultrasounds what they allow you to do is to look for things that previously you would have needed to do high radiation type scanning procedures on, like an MRI or something like that, right?
Dr. Companioni: Yes. I mean for staging and – sometimes the MRI could be helpful in the rectal cancer but for example for people with esophageal cancer and gastric cancer; they are no good, either the CT or the MRI to see how deep is the tumor inside the organ per se.
Host: Right. And that’s a procedure that exposes the body to a lot of radiation. This is an ultrasound, right? The only thing that’s weird about it is that it’s happening from inside on of your orifices. Otherwise, it’s just like what women get on their stomachs when you are checking out the baby, right? It’s just sound. It’s not radiation.
Dr. Companioni: Yes. It is similar procedure. The only difference is the location.
Host: All right. So, how do people know if this would be the right procedure for them? How should they talk to their doctor about this?
Dr. Companioni: They should talk to the doctor when they have a finding for example on the CAT scan with inflammation in the pancreas, cyst in the pancreas, when they have abdominal pain and the doctor doesn’t find it, the reason of the abdominal pain or people with cancer in the rectum and esophagus.
Host: Right. Thanks Doc. That’s Dr. Ching Companioni, a gastroenterologist at HCA-Gulf Coast. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to gcmc-pc.com to get connected with Dr. Companioni or another provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, that would be good for our digestive tracts. And be sure to check back soon for the next podcast.
Adam Ragusea (Host): Ever get heartburn? Man, I was getting it bad, every day. My doc wanted to look in my stomach, which freaked me out, but it ended up being no sweat. It's called an endoscopic ultra sound. What’s it like? Is it right for you? Let’s ask Dr. Ching Companioni, gastroenterologist at Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center.
It’s Helmet of Health, the podcast from Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center. I’m Adam Ragusea and Dr. Companioni, what is endoscopic ultrasound?
Rafael A. Ching Companioni, MD (Guest): Endoscopy ultrasound is a procedure in which we actually we see with the ultrasound machine, organs near to the GI tract, which means the pancreas, liver, adrenal glands, bile ducts, gallbladder.
Host: So, essentially, it’s a way for you to put a camera down a person’s throat and you can see their digestive tract, you can see a lot of the other organs around there? You can see all kinds of things, right?
Dr. Companioni: Yes, we can do it from above, I mean upper endoscopy ultrasound and we can do lower endoscopy ultrasound. For example people with rectal cancer, or people with an abscess near to the rectum, we can see with the endoscopy ultrasound. People with a fistula, and in the rectum, we can see with the endoscopy ultrasound too.
Host: Okay, so let me try to put this in slightly less elegant terms. You can go in through the throat or you can go in through the other end of the digestive tract.
Dr. Companioni: Yes.
Host: Okay. Depending on how close the area of concern is to either of those respective ends of the GI tract. What’s that like for people? Let’s talk about upper. So, going in through the throat. That’s what I had done. I remember it as being very simple. What would that be like in terms of a procedure for a person?
Dr. Companioni: So, usually we do the procedure under anesthesia. Most of the time, we use a medication that we call propofol and the patient they will be asleep during the entire procedure. They won’t feel any pain.
Host: Okay so, they don’t feel any pain. They are asleep when you put the camera down their throat. And then when they wake up, is their throat sore? Do they hurt? What’s it feel like?
Dr. Companioni: I mean it’s like any upper endoscopy the complications that you can have with like a sore throat for a few days. It doesn’t happen in all of the patients. Tears, bleeding and infection can happen but less than one percent, which means it is pretty low. Like any endoscopy procedure.
Host: Yeah, very rare. Okay so, a lower endoscopy, going in through the other end of the digestive tract, a very similar situation? You would put me under, and I would feel maybe a little bit of soreness after, but that’s it?
Dr. Companioni: Usually people with the lower endoscopy ultrasound even they don’t feel any pain after the procedure. I mean during the procedure; they will be under anesthesia. They are sleeping. They don’t feel any pain. Post-procedure they are unlikely to have the complications.
Host: So, you touched on this earlier but what kinds of things could you look for using this technology, this procedure?
Dr. Companioni: With the upper endoscopy ultrasound; we can look for tumors, we can look for a stone inside the gallbladder and the bile duct. We can look for swelling in the pancreas that we call pancreatitis. We can look for cysts in the pancreas and tumors in the pancreas, too.
Host: Okay and then with the lower endoscopic ultrasound; what could you look for using that?
Dr. Companioni: You look for similar things like a tumor, collections like an abscess near to the rectum. The most important in the lower endoscopy ultrasound is that you can see the muscles around the anus and some people they can have fecal incontinence and you can see there is a tear in the sphincter. And people with rectal cancer, part of the staging of the tumor; you want to know how deep is the tumor inside the rectum and the best is the lower endoscopic ultrasound.
Host: So, it sounds like these endoscopic ultrasounds what they allow you to do is to look for things that previously you would have needed to do high radiation type scanning procedures on, like an MRI or something like that, right?
Dr. Companioni: Yes. I mean for staging and – sometimes the MRI could be helpful in the rectal cancer but for example for people with esophageal cancer and gastric cancer; they are no good, either the CT or the MRI to see how deep is the tumor inside the organ per se.
Host: Right. And that’s a procedure that exposes the body to a lot of radiation. This is an ultrasound, right? The only thing that’s weird about it is that it’s happening from inside on of your orifices. Otherwise, it’s just like what women get on their stomachs when you are checking out the baby, right? It’s just sound. It’s not radiation.
Dr. Companioni: Yes. It is similar procedure. The only difference is the location.
Host: All right. So, how do people know if this would be the right procedure for them? How should they talk to their doctor about this?
Dr. Companioni: They should talk to the doctor when they have a finding for example on the CAT scan with inflammation in the pancreas, cyst in the pancreas, when they have abdominal pain and the doctor doesn’t find it, the reason of the abdominal pain or people with cancer in the rectum and esophagus.
Host: Right. Thanks Doc. That’s Dr. Ching Companioni, a gastroenterologist at HCA-Gulf Coast. Thanks for checking out this episode of Helmet of Health. Head to gcmc-pc.com to get connected with Dr. Companioni or another provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, that would be good for our digestive tracts. And be sure to check back soon for the next podcast.