BACKGROUND Dyspepsia is a common disorder in the community, with many patients referred for diagnostic gastroscopy by their General Practitioner (GP). The National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends follow-up after investigation for cost effective management, including lifestyle advice and drug use. An alternative strategy may be the use of a gastro-intestinal nurse practitioner...

Problem: Rising demand and increasing waiting times for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (gastroscopy). Design: Quality improvement study with preand post-intervention data collection. Setting: Three endoscopy units in two hospital trusts (Singleton, Morriston and Baglan Hospitals endoscopy units), UK. Key measures for improvement: Number of gastroscopy requests from general practitioners (GPs)...

PROBLEM Rising demand and increasing waiting times for upper gastrointestinal endoscopy (gastroscopy). DESIGN Quality improvement study with pre- and post-intervention data collection. SETTING Three endoscopy units in two hospital trusts (Singleton, Morriston and Baglan Hospitals endoscopy units), UK. KEY MEASURES FOR IMPROVEMENT Number of gastroscopy requests from general practitioners (...

AIM To evaluate the efficacy of 5 mL simethicone solution in decreasing gastric foam if given at least 30 min before gastroscopy. METHODS This was a randomized, placebo controlled, endoscopist blinded study performed at Changi General Hospital. Patients were at least 21 years old, had no prior surgical resection of the upper gastrointestinal tract, and scheduled for elective diagnostic gastro...

This paper relates experience in the use of the Olympus GTF fibrescope and intragastric camera. One hundred and eighty-four examinations were made in 157 patients. The instrument was usually easy to introduce into the stomach and examinations were well tolerated. The youngest patient examined was aged 16 years and the oldest 86. Fibroscopy in the elderly seldom presented difficulties. This mode...

BACKGROUND To determine whether patients with no alarm signs who ask the endoscopist to shorten their waiting time due to test result anxiety, represent a risk category for a major organic pathology. METHODS At our open-access endoscopy service, we set up an expedite list for six months for outpatients who complained that the waiting time for gastroscopy was too long. Over this period we stud...

Objective. This prospective and randomized study evaluated the efficacy and safety of the nasopharyngeal airway relative to the nasal oxygen tube in obese patients undergoing painless gastroscopy. Materials and Methods. Obese patients (BMI ≥ 28 kg/m(2); n = 260) were randomly and equally apportioned to the nasopharyngeal airway (Group A) or nasal oxygen tube (Group B) group. Three patients were...