New Equipment Allows Internists to Reach Final Frontier

The Paul L. Foster School of Medicine’s Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Internal Medicine, has achieved a series of important milestones in a short amount of time. First by expanding their GI motility services, then by introducing endoscopic ultrasound and now by adding cutting-edge balloon assisted enteroscopy.

“It’s only been in the last few years that these endoscopes have come into wide spread use and we’re the first in El Paso to offer this procedure,” said Marc Zuckerman, M.D., professor of internal medicine at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine.

Single balloon enteroscopy, also known as deep enteroscopy, uses a single balloon endoscope to gain better access to the hard-to-reach small bowel, commonly referred to by gastroenterologists as the final frontier of endoscopy.

This procedure allows doctors to take biopsies and to treat abnormalities they may encounter while exploring the small intestine, like bleeding, lesions and polyps.

“The community is very excited about having this technology available to them,” Zuckerman said. “We have already gotten referrals and we expect to have more as word gets out that this procedure is now available at University Medical Center.”

Prior to this procedure, doctors were enlisting wireless capsule endoscopy where a patient would ingest a capsule with a camera to gain access to the small intestine. While doctors could see into the entire small intestine, the old process was purely diagnostic.