Interventional Endoscopy
How Interventional Endoscopy (IE) works:
Endoscopy is often considered a primarily diagnostic service (think of a colonoscopy that can detect and remove polyps), generally limited to easy-to-reach areas at the top and bottom regions of the gastrointestinal tract. Interventional Endoscopy (IE) is a leading-edge improvement that uses specialty equipment and expert medical training to diagnose, treat, and manage a full spectrum of GI conditions throughout the complete digestive tract and its related organs—from the esophagus to the rectum, plus the liver, pancreas, and more.
IE involves the use of a thin, flexible scope (or tube) equipped with a camera, light, and miniature instruments and devices. Through advanced imaging, device technology, and technical expertise, our physicians help patients avoid more invasive traditional treatment.
Physicians at Dignity Health Sequoia Hospital provide cutting-edge, highly-beneficial IE services including:
- Treatment of complex pancreatic-biliary diseases using advanced Endoscopic Ultrasound (EUS) guided therapies (including EUS guided bile duct and gallbladder drainage and gastro-jejunostomy
- Detection and treatment of early gastrointestinal cancers using sophisticated techniques that prevent and often replace the need for surgery, chemotherapy and radiation
- Novel endoscopic therapies for GERD (gastro-esophageal reflux disease) and obesity
Although some complex IE procedures are offered by neighboring institutions, Sequoia physicians are considered highly trained experts by their peers across the country; and they have the unique ability to provide skilled services in our cherished community hospital setting.
Investing in the future: What is needed?
In 2020, Sequoia Hospital will remodel the existing GI suite and purchase additional medical equipment to support necessary and ongoing advancements in interventional endoscopy. Similar to Sequoia’s Heart and Vascular Institute, our goal is to be a Center of Excellence for Interventional Endoscopy, providing world class clinical care, conducting leading-edge clinical research, and educating other clinicians with best practices.
Investing in our community: Caring for patients from the inside out
- Sequoia physicians will be able to diagnose and treat cancer and other medical conditions in areas of the GI tract—like the small intestine—that are hard or even impossible to reach via traditional endoscopy
- Increased treatment options for patients where traditional endoscopy has been ineffective or unsuccessful, or for whom open surgery may not be an option
- Faster and less-invasive diagnosis, staging, treatment, and recovery
FAQ
How does your support of IE help Sequoia to invest in innovation?
- IE allows new treatments that are similar to surgery, but are done without making an external incision—meaning physicians can treat patients from the inside out
- IE advances diagnostics and treatment into a “new medical space” that combines components of GI, oncology, surgery, and radiation therapy
- The remodeled endoscopy suite will allow Sequoia physicians to continue important IE advances while practicing in a cherished community hospital setting