Alternatives to Gastroscopy

This involves a barium x-rays examination which looks at the lining of the oesophagus, stomach and duodenum. Is it not as accurate as an upper endoscopy as it cannot detect Barrett’s oesophagus or changes within the stomach lining, in particular, whether there is an infection. No biopsies can be performed. If the barium shows an abnormality, then often you will need to proceed to an upper endoscopy. Barium meal can be useful if you have problems with food sticking in your gullet (dysphagia) prior to endoscopy.

This is normally only useful for assessing the gallbladder, liver and spleen and does not give a good visualisation of the stomach.

This is a capsule camera that is swallowed. Very limited views are obtained of the oesophagus and stomach. It is predominately used for assessing the small intestine.

This is useful if there are problems outside the stomach or to assess for thickening of the stomach lining, however, biopsies are not able to be performed with this technique.