ENDOSCOPY is a common procedure used by medical professionals to get a closer look at a patient’s interior.
As Blink-182’s Travis Barker ended up in hospital on Tuesday, June 28, after his reported colonoscopy, fans want to know more…
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What is an endoscopy?
Endoscopy is a procedure in which the gastrointestinal tract is viewed by doctors through a fiber optic camera known as an endoscope.
The tube is inserted through natural body openings or strategically planned, small incisions. Length and flexibility often depend on what part of the body the doctor plans to look at.
The endoscope helps medical professionals examine areas that are not easily seen outside the body. For example, the esophagus, stomach, large intestine or small intestine.
Endoscopies are usually performed under sedation to ensure patient comfort during the procedure.
What types of endoscopes are there?
While there are many types of endoscopies, doctors usually separate the procedures based on their location, such as upper or lower body.
Upper body endoscopies are usually performed through the mouth, while lower body procedures are through the anus.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, “Where safe and appropriate, same-day scheduling of elective upper and lower endoscopic procedures has been shown to help reduce health care costs and prevent potential harm from repeated sedation and blood draws.”
Types of endoscopes include:
- Colonoscopy: In which a colonoscope is inserted through the anus to view the length of the colon and colon
- Gastroscopy: In which a gastroscope is inserted through the mouth to view the stomach and duodenum (the beginning of the small intestine)
- Arthroscopy: where an arthroscope is inserted over a joint through a small incision to view specific joints
What type of endoscopy did Travis Barker have?
Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker was hospitalized Tuesday, June 28 after reportedly undergoing a colonoscopy, according to TMZ.
“I went for an endoscopy on Monday and felt great. But after dinner I got excruciating pain and I’ve been hospitalized ever since,” Travis wrote in an Instagram story on Saturday, July 2.
“During the endoscopy, I had a very small polyp removed in a very sensitive area, usually treated by specialists, which unfortunately damaged a critical pancreatic drainage tube. This resulted in severe, life-threatening pancreatitis.”
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Colonoscopy is a procedure first introduced in 1969 and commonly used to screen for colon cancer.
However, according to The New York Times, “In a recent study that analyzed the experiences of nearly 80,000 patients who had the procedure, pancreatitis was not even described as a risk of colonoscopy.”
The outlet spoke to Dr. Avinash Ketwaroo, a gastroenterologist who specializes in endoscopic procedures at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, told them:
“It would be an extremely rare complication.
“So rare that it’s at the level of what we call case reports, meaning it may be one in a million colonoscopies.”