Therapeutic digestive endoscopy I.

Digestive endoscopy today is able to examine the whole gastrointestinal tract. On the basis of the originally purely diagnostic procedures a range of therapeutic modalities has been developed over years, which in some indications have taken the place of surgical procedures and methods of invasive radiology. Of greatest importance are the methods of endoscopic resection and ablation designed for the treatment of early neoplasms of the digestive tract not accompanied by a significant risk of lymphatic and systemic dissemination. Resection methods include endoscopic polypectomy, endoscopic mucosal resection, endoscopic submucosal dissection and endoscopic transmural resection. Regarding ablation methods, commonly used in clinical practice are radiofrequency ablations in the treatment of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus and argon plasma coagulation used in the treatment of symptomatic vascular malformations and small local residual neoplasms. Key words: digestive endoscopy - endoscopic ablation - endoscopic mucosal resection - endoscopic polyp-ectomy - endoscopic resection - endoscopic submucosal dissection - endoscopic transmural resection.