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A visit to the hospital can be stressful, especially if your child needs to undergo a procedure. The clinicians in the Gastroenterology Procedure Unit (GPU) at Boston Children’s Hospital are dedicated to making this process easier. The GPU is a full-service unit providing an array of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy procedures, motility procedures, and other testing related to liver disease, nutrition, and digestion. Our expert team offers a safe, comfortable environment for children and their families, and it works closely with other departments and divisions in the hospital to accommodate both routine and urgent care in a timely fashion.

Our approach to gastroenterology procedures

Offering more than the typical gastroenterology endoscopy center, our specialists provide world-renowned care to children with gastrointestinal, pancreatic, and hepatobiliary disorders, including allergic and eosinophilic disorders, celiac disease, chronic diarrhea, constipation, gastroesophageal reflux, pancreatic disease, and malabsorption disorders. In addition, we collaborate with Boston Children’s respiratory disease specialists in the care of aerodigestive disorders.

Our team consists of physicians, advanced practice nurses, nurses, technicians, and administrative staff who work together to care for patients. We also collaborate with our colleagues throughout the hospital, including specialists from the Motility and Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders Center, Aerodigestive Center, Esophageal and Airway Treatment Center, and Sedation Services, to perform a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures:

  • Breath testing for Helicobacter pylori infection and malabsorption problems
  • Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
  • Endoscopy, including capsule endoscopy, colonoscopy, enteroscopy, sigmoidoscopy, ultrasound endoscopy, and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy
  • Gastroesophageal reflux testing (Bravo capsule pH monitoring, pH/impedance probe monitoring, SmartPill)
  • Indirect calorimetry
  • Liver elastography (Fibroscan)
  • Motility testing (perfused and high-resolution solid-state catheter manometry)
  • BOTOX® injection
  • Esophageal and other intestinal stricture dilation
  • Foreign body removal
  • Gastrostomy tube (G-tube) placement
  • Hemostasis
  • Polypectomy
  • Therapeutic endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography
  • Sedation services

Our team also assists in the care of children with life-threatening cases in other areas of the hospital, such as the intensive care and surgical units, using our portable equipment.

Our areas of innovation in gastroenterology procedures

The clinicians in the GPU perform leading-edge research studies in a number of areas. Our ongoing research projects include investigations into the use of endoscopic ultrasound, sedation for procedures, chronic esophageal disease, polyposis, and inflammatory bowel disease.