Endoscopy Center at the GW Digestive Disorder Center
A comprehensive endoscopy unit has the ability to diagnose and treat disorders of the entire intestinal tract with advanced endoscopic equipment. This center is equipped with a photodynamic laser.

Learn about disgestive disorders, diagnosis and treatment through interactive animations and fact sheets.

Endoscopic Services for GI Conditions

Endoscopy refers to the process of looking inside a hollow organ with an endoscope, a flexible tube with a light and an optical system. Endoscopes are often used to project images onto a monitor or computer screen.

Endoscopic procedures can be used to treat many GI conditions. Many of these procedures are non-invasive, or require only small incisions. This often results in faster recoveries and shorter hospital stays.

Download a fact sheet.

Services at the GW Digestive Disorder Center:

• High-Resolution Esophageal Manometry: Manometry records pressures within the esophagus to see if the esophagus is contracting and relaxing properly. This test helps diagnose many swallowing problems and is a key part of the evaluation prior to surgery for gastrointestinal reflux disease (GERD). The GW Digestive Disorder Center uses the ManoScan360^TM, which allows an average esophageal study to be completed in 10 minutes or less.
• Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS): Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) combines endoscopy and ultrasound to obtain images and information about the digestive tract and surrounding tissue and organs. EUS can show early phases of fibrosis, developing gallstones, or changes in the pancreatic or biliary duct system. EUS can also identify pancreatic tumors and metastatic cancer in the liver and surrounding areas. The George Washington University Hospital offers EUS using Pentax Endoscopic Ultrasound, a leading-edge system that provides high quality imaging.
• BÂRRX therapy—BÂRRX procedure (Radiofrequency Ablation): This new endoscopic technique is used to treat patients with Barrett's esophagus. The GW Digestive Disorder Center uses the HALO360 and the HALO90 Systems, which ablate the affected Barrett's tissue in a brief, safe and effective procedure.
• The SpyGlass® System: The SpyGlass System is a leading-edge diagnostic tool for gallbladder and liver diseases available at the GW Hospital Endoscopy Center. Learn more about the SpyGlass System at the George Washington University Hospital. Learn more.
• Biliary endoscopy: This procedure allows doctors to examine the bile ducts to remove gallstones, open obstructed bile ducts and obtain biopsies of suspicious areas. The GI team at the GW Digestive Disorder Center has endoscopic technology called the SpyGlass® System that uses a miniature 6,000-pixel fiberoptic probe attached to a camera head so that one physician can make a definitive diagnosis and perform treatment in one procedure. Conventional methods required that two endoscopists operate the scopes, and images obtained weren't always sufficient for diagnosis.
• Endoscopic Retrograde Cholangiopancreatography (ERCP): ERCP combines the use of an endoscope with X-ray pictures to examine the tubes that drain the liver, gallbladder and pancreas. ERCP can help a doctor make a diagnosis, remove a gallstone, widen or support a bile duct with a stent, or take a sample of tissue or fluid for laboratory analysis. The endoscopy suite uses the new OEC 9900 Elite C-Arm for ERCP and the placement of GI stents. This technology offers a dramatic improvement in image clarity and the ability to interface with the PACS radiology system.
• Choledochoscopy: This ERCP procedure uses a second scope to get a better view of and access to the biliary ducts for diagnosing and treating biliary colic and acute cholecystitis (a gallbladder infection), and to check for gallstone obstruction. Biliary colic often leads to acute cholecystitis, often requiring gallbladder removal.