Roentgenoscopy of the stomach: indications for the procedure and stages of the procedure

Radiography of the stomach is a method of diagnostics that is quite common in medical practice. It is this study that helps to identify a variety of diseases and functional disorders: neoplasms (benign and malignant), ulcerous diseases, protrusion of the walls of the organ.

X-ray of the stomach provides an opportunity to know the size, shape, position of the body and its departments, assess the condition and integrity of the walls, determine the possibilities of sphincters (circular muscles that are in the walls of the stomach and separate when the organ is compressed from the esophagus cavity). The reasons for the doctor to refer you to such an investigation may be several:

• Predisposition to tumor diseases;
• Suspicion of peptic ulcer;
• Malformations of the stomach;
• Diverticulum (deformation of the walls of the stomach);
• Inflammatory processes;
• Impaired swallowing;
• Pain in the navel;
• Blood in the feces;
• Unreasonable belching and weight loss.

Contra-indications for examination

If there are reasons why the patient will be injured by fluoroscopy and radiography of the stomach, more gentle methods, for example, fibrogastroscopy, are chosen for the examination. Indications for selecting this procedure are as follows:

• Severe condition;
• Pregnancy (especially in the first trimester);
• Bleeding (gastric and intestinal).

How is X-ray of the stomach?

This method of research is carried out with the help of contrasting. Our stomach is a hollow organ, and to obtain an image it is necessary to fill it with a special substance (barium salt), which does not pass X-rays. Also, the radiography of the stomach can also be carried out by the method of double contrasting, when the stomach is injected with salts and air (under pressure). This makes it possible to expand, slightly enlarge the stomach and fill with the contrast material all the folds of the mucosa. This increases the quality of diagnosis. Next, the image of the filled body will be projected onto the screen. The first thing that experts do is an x-ray of the abdominal cavity. This allows us to reveal a rough pathology, and after taking the contrast, pictures are taken in different positions (on the back, on the side, standing). X-ray of the stomach is also performed when examining the gastrointestinal tract.

How to prepare for the procedure ?

There are no particularly strict rules. If you have no abnormalities of the stomach and intestines, the only condition is a ban on eating six or eight hours before the examination. Patients who have pathologies are recommended to go on a diet three days before the procedure. You need to exclude the use of dairy products, sweets, carbonated drinks, cabbage. This is necessary to reduce gas generation. In the diet can include low-fat meat, eggs, fish, a few cereals that need to cook on the water. If you have elevated flatulence or constipation, then you will have to put a cleansing enema and do a gastric lavage. Specialists who perform gastrointestinal examination are a gastroenterologist, a diagnostician, a radiologist and an ultrasound doctor.