Upper Gastrointestinal Series Usage

An upper GI series may be done if you have:

• Diarrhea
• Weight loss
• Abdominal pain
• Trouble swallowing
• Regurgitation—when food and fluids flow back up from your stomach toward your mouth
• Rectal bleeding
• Bloody stools or black, tarry stools
• Bloody vomit or "coffee-ground" vomit

An upper GI series can help detect:

• Ulcers
• Blockage
• Abnormal growths or tumors
• Diverticula —abnormal pouches in the wall of your gut
• Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) —when acid from the stomach moves up into your throat
• Hiatal hernia —the upper part of the stomach moves up through a small opening in the muscular wall that separates the abdominal cavity from the chest cavity