Interventional Gastroenterology

The RUSH Approach to Interventional Gastroenterology

At RUSH, our focus is on helping you uncover what is causing your digestive discomfort. The interventional endoscopy team diagnoses and treats a wide range of complex gastrointestinal issues.  

Our interventional gastroenterologists use a flexible tube with a camera (an endoscope) to look inside your digestive tract. They are then able to find and remove issues in real time. This often allows you to avoid more invasive surgery to treat your condition.  

Often, we receive a referral directly from your provider to help them diagnose your condition to create a treatment plan. When that happens, we work closely with your primary gastroenterologist (or other doctor) to make sure your care is coordinated and seamless.  

Reasons You May Be Referred to an Interventional Gastroenterologist 

You may already have had imaging, but you may need additional testing. That’s when your provider would send you to our team for more advanced imaging — and possible treatment.  

Through endoscopy, our interventional gastroenterologists are typically able to diagnose all types of digestive diseases, including pancreatic diseases.

RUSH Excellence in Interventional Gastroenterology 

• Fast, convenient access: We know that if you have a possible diagnosis of cancer, you want to be seen as quickly as possible. When that’s the case, we work with you to schedule your procedure within two business days. And even if you don’t have suspected cancer, we will work with you to see you within five business days or sooner. We also have interventional gastroenterologists on call 24/7 if emergency procedures are needed.  
• An experienced, dedicated team: Our team at RUSH performs more than 2,000 procedures a year. And, our specially trained nurses and advanced practice providers are exclusively dedicated to caring for interventional endoscopy patients. That means our team has the experience to quickly identify what is causing your issues—as well as guide you through what to expect before, during and after your procedure. 
• Coordinated team-approach to care: If you need care from other specialists at RUSH, we’ll help you coordinate that care. We routinely work closely with RUSH cancer care experts, colorectal surgery, hepatology and liver transplant, and bariatric surgery teams to ensure your care is coordinated and holistic. For example, some patients experience complications from bariatric surgery performed elsewhere. We address these complications—and can bring in our bariatric surgeons as needed for additional support. 
• Options not widely available elsewhere: We offer procedures for the diagnosis and treatment of achalasia that aren’t widely available. For example, the EndoFLIP (or endolumenal functional lumen imaging probe) allows us to provide you with a more definitive diagnosis for achalasia and difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) and the POEM (peroral endoscopic myotomy) procedure offers a nonsurgical treatment for achalasia.