Emerging Role of Transnasal Endoscopy in Children and Adults

Abstract

The use of unsedated transnasal endoscopy (TNE) was initially developed by otolaryngologists and was adopted by gastroenterologists in the 1990s for clinically challenging situations in which anatomic or clinical conditions did not allow traditional oral approaches, such as the endoscopic placement of transnasal feeding tubes in critically ill patients, diagnostic evaluation of dysphagia, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding.1–3 Since then, the use of unsedated TNE in children and adults has grown to include the assessment of a wide variety of conditions in an effort to reduce costs, limit complications, and improve access (Table 1).