These professionals see their work not just as performing a "procedure," but as treating a person.

Parkwest provides therapeutic as well as diagnostic services. Our team serves patients throughout the hospital, from the Emergency Care Center to the Endoscopy Lab.

About Endoscopy
An endoscopy is a test that lets doctors look inside the body. They use an endoscope - a long flexible tube that can be swallowed. It has a camera and light inside it. This allows the doctor to view the inside of the esophagus, stomach and duodenum as the image is projected on a screen.

While the tube is inside the body, doctors can take samples - or biopsies - of any abnormal looking tissues.

Most patients can choose whether to have the test while they are awake or after taking a sedative.

If they don't have a sedative, they spray and numb the back of the throat to make it easier to swallow the endoscopy tube.

Services
One of the newest, most exciting procedures in the Endoscopy Lab is bronchoscopy. This is when doctors use tiny scopes to look inside the lungs to do biopsies and check for tumors. They can use the tubes to brush off samples of lung cells to test for abnormalities.

Parkwest uses bronchoscopy technology in a variety of gastrointestinal surgeries, including:

• Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD), an examination of the lining of the esophagus, stomach and upper duodenum with a small camera, which is inserted down the throat. Doctors check for inflammation, erosion, tumors, ulcers or anything else abnormal. The scope allows them to perform biopsies, remove polyps and control bleeding.

  An EGD also allows doctors to insert a feeding tube into the patient's stomach when necessary.

• Colonoscopy, inserting a scope in the rectum to view the colon, check for diseases such as cancer, colitis and Crohn's, and treat them.

• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) inserting a scope down the esophagus and stomach into the duodenum. Doctors perform ECRPs to remove gallstones or insert stents to keep bile ducts open so they don't become blocked again.

• Esophageal motility studies, inserting a catheter through the nose into the esophagus to measure the patient's ability to swallow.

• pH studies, inserting a catheter through the nose and esophagus to check the stomach's acid level. These studies let patients track their behavior that sparks acid reflux, and help doctors decide how to treat it.