The Cost and Effectiveness of Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is only one of many relatively new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies that are in widespread use in the medical care system. Examples of others are coronary angiograms, renal hemodialysis, and fetal monitoring. Few new technologies are evaluated thoroughly before they become part of “standard practice.” Evaluating their worth and attempting to make their use as efficacious as possible, therefore, presents many formidable problems. This report presents an analysis of the cost and efficacy of the current use of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. However, the analyses and conclusions reached have parallels in many other medical technologies already in current use in a wide variety of medical specialties in many different settings.