This is a way of looking at the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum and first part of the small bowel, called the jejunum by using a video on a micro-chip relaying images to a screen. It is useful for diagnosing conditions such as gastro-oesophageal reflux, gastritis (inflammation of the stomach lining), gastric and duodenal ulcers, problems with absorption in the small bowel such as Coeliac disease or cow’s milk protein absorption problems and certain distributions of inflammatory bowel disease, ie Crohn’s disease. Under a short general anaesthetic, the procedure which will last approximately 5-10 minutes, will occur with pictures and video being taken.

Professor Thomson is the director of a pathology company to which he will be sending the biopsies for analysis.