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Endoscopy Unit

Hillingdon Hospital
Telephone number: 01895 279214

Mount Vernon Hospital
Telephone number: 01923 844363

The Endoscopy Department carries out procedures at the Hillingdon Hospital site and at Mount Vernon Hospital. Patients are referred by their GP or consultants from other parts of the hospital. Procedures are carried out throughout the hospital for inpatients and outpatients are booked in to the main Outpatients Department. Endoscopy is the direct visual examination of any part of the inside of the body, using an endoscope (a long, tube-like optical viewing instrument, used to view the internal body organs).

Endoscopy is a reliable method of investigating problems with the internal organs of the body. It can be used to extract tissue samples for further testing (biopsy), and to remove foreign bodies. It can also be used to insert a contrast medium (dye) into a particular organ or tissue. This will then show up clearly under X-ray.

Endoscopy allows doctors to check for irritation, ulcers, inflammation and abnormal tissue growth in the internal organs. It can be used to close off a blood vessel or remove small growths. When you undergo an endoscopic examination, you may be given a local anaesthetic or sedative.

It is used to examine a number of different organs, including:

  • the lungs (bronchoscopy) and the central partition of the chest (mediastinoscopy),
  • the stomach (gastroscopy), upper intestine and colon (colonoscopy),
  • the inside of the bladder (cystoscopy), and
  • the lining of the rectum (flexible sigmoidoscopy)

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