Equipment in Pediatric Endoscopy

Abstract

With the development of a sub-specialty focused on pediatric gastrointestinal disorders, new technologies such as pediatric endoscopy were developed for diagnostic and therapeutic aims. Current endoscopic technology permits safe visualization, tissue sampling, and therapeutic procedures. Outer tip and working channel diameters have the greatest importance in the selection of an endoscope for the smaller children. The use of a smaller endoscope could represent the limiting element for the use of accessories, which are needed primarily for therapeutic purposes. Gastroscopes with outer diameters ranging from 4.9 to 12.8 mm are at present available, and colonoscopes range from 9.8 to 13.3 mm. Working channel diameters range from 1.5 mm of the slimmest instruments up to 4.2 mm of the largest adult therapeutic endoscopes. In 2017, the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) and European Society for Paediatric Gastroenterology Hepatology and Nutrition (ESPGHAN) published the executive summary of the Guideline on pediatric gastrointestinal endoscopy that refers to infants, children, and adolescents aged 0–18 years.