What is an esophagram?
Esophagram is a medical imaging study of esophagus, which uses X -rays and radiopact contrasting agent, usually barium. This test is also known as the Barium series or the upper gastrointestinal series. The physician may apply for esophagram to evaluate the ability to swallow the patient, seek the causes of the esophageal bleeding and check other problems with gastrointestinal health. Usually, the test can be administered on an outpatient basis and the risks associated with this procedure are very low.
In the esophagram, the patient swallows the mixture of sulphate and water Barria. The mixture can be flavored to make it tastier, but generally the experience is unpleasant. A series of X -rays are taken when the bars move the patient's esophagus and the upper GI tract. These X -rays are studied to get to the bottom of a medical problem such as painful swallowing. Barium will pass through the patient's body and will be excreted along with other waste products.
X -ray exposurere involved in esophagram is relatively lowand is considered to be a calculated risk to the patient. The value of diagnostic testing is considered to be sufficiently important to expose the patient to a small amount of radiation. If the patient needs further medical imaging involving X -rays and other radiation, the history of the recent esophagram will be deciding on how to proceed. In general, patients are not at risk of damage to nuclear imaging because their exposures are low and imaging studies are rare.
As an alternative to the esophagus, the doctor may consider endoscopy where the camera is inserted into the esophagus and used to study its structure and general physical conditions. This can sometimes identify problems that do not appear on the X -ray and may eliminate the need for expensive and invasive exploration surgery for the exploration of the esophagus. This test is with a patient in a seated patient for comfort and can also be performed on an outpatient basis.
6 The doctor shouldt able to provide detailed test information and can discuss the potential treatment options that can be recommended as soon as the results are in hand. The results of the test on the esophagram may take several days, depending on whether the radiologist is available immediately to read pictures or whether they need to be sent.