What is endoscopy?

Endoscopy uses an endoscope, a small device with a camera attached at one end, to help us see inside your pet’s body. Endoscopy is a minimally invasive diagnostic medical procedure that is used to assess the interior surfaces of an organ by inserting a tube into the body.

We at Beacon Pet Hospital perform Video Otoscopies.

What Video Otoscopy is?

Video otoscopy is the use of a rigid endoscope with a video camera at the end to transmit images to a larger screen. The projected image is also magnified, allowing us to see much more detail than with traditional methods. In addition, the video otoscope also has a channel that allows the operator to flush the canal with water and vacuum dry as needed. Special instruments can also be passed through this channel, to allow us to clean, grab objects or even take biopsies.

Anesthesia is necessary in order to get useful images. Anesthesia is employed for the following reasons: 1) to ensure the patient is completely still while working near the ear drum in order to prevent damage to the delicate structures, 2) to protect the patient’s airway from any fluid that may flow from the ears to the throat (via the Eustachian tube) during the irrigation procedure. The safest drug protocols and patient monitoring are used during the anesthetic procedure, but no anesthetic procedure is entirely free of risk. Very rarely, patients may have unexpected, even life-threatening side effects during anesthesia. Thankfully, all of these events are extremely rare.

Video otoscopy itself is a safe procedure. It is usually done as an outpatient procedure, meaning that the patient will be dropped off in the morning and returns home in the afternoon. The patient may be slightly less active the day after the procedure due to the anesthesia. Very rare side effects of the video otoscopy procedure include decreased hearing, dizziness, head tilt or difficulty blinking the eye on the affected side. 

What We Can Do with Video Otoscopy?

Video otoscopy provides us with a tremendous amount of information. The benefits over traditional otoscopy include:

• It allows better, more detailed visualization
• It allows us to remove fluid from the ear
• We can more effectively clean debris from deep in the ear canal
• We can help to treat allergic ear conditions
• It allows us the ability to clean behind a ruptured ear drum
• It lets us efficiently clean wax, infection, and even ear mites from the ear
• We are effectively able to diagnose and biopsy tumors in the ear
• We can retrieve foreign objects from the ear canal
• It lets us acquire precise samples for bacterial culture
• We can evaluate the middle ear

Benefits of video otoscopy procedure are that it is typically the safest, most cost effective and best method to diagnose and treat serious ear diseases. By utilizing this tool we are able to provide your pet with the best and most effective treatments.

If your pet is suffering from ear problems or you feel he or she could benefit from video otoscopy, give us a call.