If you have been experiencing digestive problems such as persistent heartburn, difficulty swallowing, stomach cramps, blood in your vomit or unexplained weight loss then you may need an endoscopy to diagnose what could be causing these symptoms.

During aprivate endoscopy (also known as a gastroscopy), a camera is used to examine your oesophagus, stomach and parts of the small intestine.

A doctor will pass an endoscope, a thin, flexible telescope, through the mouth, into the oesophagus and beyond. As part of the procedure, the doctor may take a sample from the lining of the oesophagus, stomach or small intestine as a biopsy for analysis in our laboratory.

A private endoscopy is a reliable check-up for certain gastrointestinal conditions and is carried out by consultant gastroenterologists in comfortable, private facilities.

What can a private endoscopy or gastroscopy show?

Diseases of the digestive symptoms can be present with many symptoms such as:

Difficulty in swallowing

Heartburn or indigestion (dyspepsia)

Stomach pain

Vomiting blood

Weight loss

Common causes of these symptoms can be:

Acidity

Infection

Inflammation of the gullet (oesophagitis)

Ulcers

In extreme cases, the causes of these symptoms can be more serious and indicate conditions such as stomach cancer.

The private gastroenterologist will advise you if your symptoms may be caused by other diseases such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or bowel cancer. The consultant may recommend other tests if the problems could be caused by such conditions. These tests could be a private colonoscopy/virtual colonoscopy sigmoidoscopy, or barium enema.