Endoscopy is a harmless and painless method of diagnosing diseases of any of the hollow organs of the body (like throat, stomach or intestine) by looking directly into the affected organ using a probe called endoscope. It is a hollow metallic tube fitted with a light source and a viewing system.
Modern endoscopes make use of flexible bundles of optical fibres both for transmitting light to the organ and transmitting the image to the eyepiece outside for viewing.
Since the endoscope gives a direct view of the affected body parts, patients need not go for complicated investigations.
Advanced endoscopes may have surgical attachments to carry out minor operations or biopsy.
