Surgical gastrointestinal endoscopy in Ibadan, Nigeria

Introduction Fiberoptic colonoscoscopy is about 43 years old now. Improvement in instruments led rapidly to wide acceptance of colonoscopy in diagnosis and therapy of colorectal diseases. The diagnosis of benign and malignant neoplasms was revolutionized by colonoscopy. Flexible fiberoptic endoscopes have now replaced rigid endoscopes because of the enhanced safety, ease of application and ability to link to a monitor (videoscopes) so that the patient may even follow the procedure. The use of these flexible fiberoptic endoscopes for both upper and lower gastrointestinal tract examinations started in the University College Hospital Ibadan as far back as 1986; however most of these examinations were carried out by the physicians of the gastroenterology unit. From 1989 to 1990 some sporadic endoscopic examinations were done by one surgeon, but when he left the service surgical endoscopy was done by the medical gastroenterologists. Recently, the hospital acquired new scopes available for gastrointestinal surgeons, medical gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, otorhinolaryngologists and thoracic surgeons. Surgical endoscopy is now done in the Division of Surgical Gastroenterology routinely . This is a preliminary report of our experience with surgical upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopies in the University College Hospital Ibadan, Nigeria.