About Your Upper Endoscopy: An upper endoscopy, also known as an EGD, is an exam that allows your doctor to examine your esophagus, stomach, and first part of the small intestine with a thin, flexible tube called an endoscope.
Why Its Done: It is performed to evaluate symptoms such as persistent upper abdominal pain, bleeding, nausea, vomiting, difficulty swallowing or dilation of the esophagus.
About the Procedure: The procedure is performed in a special endoscopy suite. The entire procedure, including pre-op and recovery, takes approximately 2 hours upon arrival. The actual exam normally takes approximately 15 minutes. Just before the exam begins, an anesthesia provider administers sedation.
If your doctor finds abnormal tissue, biopsies may be taken for laboratory testing. Results of any laboratory testing are sent to your primary doctor within 7 to 10 business days and will be shared with you.
Preparing for Your Upper Endoscopy:
Arrange a ride for after your procedure. You will not be able to drive or work until the following day. You will not be able to take a taxi or ride-hailing service unless accompanied by a responsible party. If you do not have a ride, your procedure will be cancelled.
If you take GLP-1 agonists such as Trulicity, Ozempic, Wegovy, or Zepbound please stop these injections 1 week prior to procedure.
For your safety, medications may need to be stopped or changed prior to your scheduled procedure as they can cause complications. Please contact your prescribing provider if you take any blood thinners (such as Warfarin, Jantoven, Eliquis, Plavix etc.) or Insulin or a diabetic medication, (such as Novolog, Humalog, Metformin etc).
Do not eat any solid food after 11:45 p.m. the night before your procedure. You may only drink clear liquids such as water, apple juice, 7-up, black coffee or tea.
Do not drink anything for 4 hours before your procedure. Anesthesia is most safely delivered when your stomach is empty.
Arrival: When you arrive, come to the Emergency Department/Surgery Center entrance on the north side of the hospital. Please check in at the Surgery Center registration desk, go through the doors to the left once you enter the hospital. Inform the registration representative of your name and the procedure for which you are scheduled. The representative will notify the endoscopy staff of your arrival. If you have questions about this exam, please call: 507-646-1201 (Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)
Anticipating Costs: Your out-of-pocket expenses for your procedure are determined by your individual insurance policy’s benefits, your policy’s deductible and coinsurance amounts, and by whether or not tissue, polyps or tumors are sampled or removed. Before your procedure, we encourage you to call your insurance company to tell them the procedure is billed as a hospital (not a clinic) outpatient service and to ask:
- Whether Northfield Hospital is in network
- What you can expect to pay if the findings are normal
- What you can expect to pay if tissue, polyps or tumors are removed / sampled
Northfield Hospital + Clinics will submit charges for the services you receive to your insurance company. Your insurance company will determine how much of the bill you will pay and how much they will pay. You will receive a bill from Northfield Hospital + Clinics for the amount you owe.
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