how bad are small bowel biopsies?
I’m going to have to have one to be tested for gluten intolerance and I’m scared to death. What’s it like?
Filed under: Bowels
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Denisedds (88)
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Usually the procedure involves an endoscopic biopsy. The gastroenterologist or surgeon will pass a fiber-optic scope one of two ways: either down the esophagus, or up through the rectum. When the scope reaches the small intestine, several small bits of tissue are removed through the endoscope and taken to a pathology lab for analysis. The patient is sedated for this procedure with one of several medications, usually a benzodiazepine like Versed which is like Valium, or an anesthetic agent called Propofol. There is also a pain drug administered, often fentanyl which is a potent synthetic form of morphine. The combination of these drugs make it so the patient can’t feel the procedure, and has no recollection of it either, so they don’t remember a scope passing through those parts of the body. The bowels are supplied with nerves in such a way that removal of a small chunk of tissue actually doesn’t hurt, but the passage of the scope may.