Cholangioscopy is a procedure in which a flexible tube, called an endoscope, allows the doctor to visualize the inside of the bile ducts. It is used to treat related medical conditions, such as removal of bile duct stones.
When coupled with the visualization of the pancreas, it’s called cholangiopancreatoscopy. Your doctor may choose to perform a cholangioscopy if other imaging techniques are insufficient to make an adequate diagnosis or therapeutic intervention is needed to direct visualization.
In addition to the visualization of the bile ducts, cholangioscopy will help your physician to visualize and examine the hepatic (liver) and pancreatic ducts.
SpyGlass cholangioscopy is a recently developed technique for the visualization of the bile ducts. It allows your doctor to see your biliary duct system and difficult-to-reach, small ducts in the pancreas, with a 6,000-pixel, fiber-optic probe attached to a tiny camera.
The procedure can be performed by a single doctor or endoscopist. Unlike the SpyGlass system, the previously used endoscopes were fragile and difficult to use. The newer versions of the SpyScope (the endoscope used in SpyGlass cholangioscopy) provide better and easier visualization.
SpyGlass cholangioscopy may be done to diagnose and treat various conditions of the bile ducts, liver, and pancreas with the following:
Treatment of cancers of the biliary or pancreatic ducts.
Extraction or dissolution of biliary stones.
Diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis.
Pancreatic stones extraction.
Diagnosis of pancreatic duct tumors.
Potential role in autoimmune pancreatitis.
The complications of cholangioscopy are:
Copyright @ Medsev. Designed By HiBootstrap