# diagnosis questions



## soft (Jun 3, 2004)

Posted this same question on wrong forum so here I go again. Is there an area of the intestine that isn't seen by the upper/lower GI series? Is the upper GI & SBFT the same thing? Could a laparoscopy see crohn's? Thanks in advance.


----------



## LaurieJ (Sep 3, 2002)

I can answer maybe parts of your questions:The upper GI and SBFT are not the same thing. The upper GI looks at your esophagus and stomach. The SBFT looks at the duodenum and small intestine. But the tests are usually done at the same time - they just keep you longer for the barium to get to the small bowel so they can get images. You as the patient will not notice any difference in the tests - it will seem as if it was all one test.I am not sure if a lap could see crohn's unless things are so bad that the intestine is twisted and obstructed and perforated. As a typical diagnosis, I would think that the colonoscopy with tissue samples would be the best way (? just guessing here).As far as endoscopies reviewing the upper and lower GI my impression is that because the intestines are so long and so folded and packed into a small space that they are not able to see every inch with the scopes. I think the same is for the camera system too, although that does get through the whole system. I know that I was told when they did exploratory surgery on my abdomen that it was not possible to "run the bowel" as they call it, for the whole thing because of its anatomical positioning. I am not sure if this is the same with scopes.The fluoroscopy? I am familier with the upper GI and SBFT but I am not sure if they do the large intestine too by fluoroscopy......Not sure if I helped but these are my thoughts.Laurie


----------



## soft (Jun 3, 2004)

thanks so much for your help laurie. another question (i'm full of them LOL) do you know if a person has early crohn's if it might not be detected via colonoscopy biopsy/sbft until damage shows up?


----------



## LaurieJ (Sep 3, 2002)

I am no expert on that but I would think like any other disease, if it is in the early stages it will be hard to detect.


----------

