Dr Vered Schildkraut

WHAT IS A COLONOSCOPY?

 

A colonoscopy is an examination of the inside of the large bowel. This is the part of you child’s bowel where food goes after it leaves the small intestine. The doctor will insert a long tube with a light at the end through the anus and into the large bowel.  This happens whilst your child is asleep and does not hurt them. It will take around 30 minutes.

 

WHY DOES YOUR CHID NEED A COLONOSCOPY?

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A colonoscopy is undertaken to find the cause for your child’s symptoms, such as chronic diarrhoea, rectal bleeding or abdominal pain, and to try and make a diagnosis. 

A colonoscopy can show, for example, if your child has inflammation in their large intestine, as in Ulcerative Colitis or a polyp (growths from the lining of the bowel).

 

WHAT HAPPENS DURING A COLONOSCOPY?

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Your child will have a general anaesthetic for this procedure.  Whilst your child is asleep, a thin flexible tube with a bright light is put into your child’s bottom and from here it goes into their large intestine. The doctor can then look down the tube and see the lining of the large intestine. Biopsies (very small pieces of tissue) are taken which will be analysed under a microscope. The taking of these biopsies is painless. Polyps can be removed with a wire loop which cauterises the base of the polyp. The tissue is then retrieved for pathological analysis.​

 

BOWEL PREPARATION is required before a colonoscopy.

The child will receive a bowel PREP regime adjusted to their age and weight 

 

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