Gut Investigations Barium Meal and Follow Through Barium is a substance that shows up on x-ray and a barium meal is when your child would swallow some liquid or solid containing barium and we would watch it go into the stomach, and then the intestine, and follow this through the intestine. It is very helpful…

Gut Investigations Small bowel biopsy A small bowel biopsy is particularly helpful when taken at endoscopy to exclude conditions such as Coeliac disease and other inflammatory conditions involving the small intestine and it is extremely safe with no significant side effects.Your child would have this done at endoscopy and then the biopsies are looked at…

Gut Investigations Hydrogen Breath Tests These will require your child to be present at the Outpatient Department for a period of 3 or more hours without having breakfast before arriving. This is because a drink involving an amount of the sugar to be tested for such as sucrose or lactose will be drunk and then…

Gut Investigations Abdominal Xray An abdominal xray is very helpful to look for abnormalities such as significant and severe constipation. It does involve some x-ray exposure but this is relatively minimal and it can also be helpful in looking for other issues such as kidney stones and can help in also looking at the spine.…

Gut Investigations pH reflux study This is the way to look at the amount of acid entering the lower part of the oesophagus which might cause problems due to reflux. It is a thin plastic tube placed usually at endoscopy so the insertion does not cause any discomfort and the tip lies about 3-4 cm…

Gut Investigations Faecal analysis Faeces can be looked at for bacteria, viruses, the presence of parasites but all these are not particularly reliable. Faecal elastase is a test which can look for pancreatic function. There are other tests to look for blood loss and inflammation. In general, however, faecal analysis is not particularly helpful. There…

Gut Investigations Abdominal Ultrasound An ultrasound is something that happens regularly and frequently and does not involve radiation.It can be helpful for looking at the structures of the abdomen, including the pancreas, liver and to a certain extent the intestine. It is not helpful for reflux, nor for any inflammatory conditions involving the gut but…

Gut Investigations Per-cutaneous gastrostomy This is a technique by which a small tube is passed via endoscopy straight through the abdominal wall into the stomach cavity and a plastic tube is left there in order that feeds can be administered to promote good nutrition. This is particularly helpful for children with very bad feeding problems…

Gut Investigations ERCP & MRCP The full name of this is endoscopic retrograde cholangio pancreaticography which is a way of looking at the drainage of the liver and the pancreas for any abnormalities such as gall stones impacted in the biliary tree which is the drainage system of the liver or any evidence to suggest…

Gut Investigations Abdominal MRI Scan An MRI scan is an excellent way of looking at the structures, not the function, of the intestinal tract and the rest of the organs in the abdomen and it is very helpful for looking at structural abnormalities such as scarring and strictures of the gut.It can also help delineate…