Stomach disease utilizes a small flexible camera. The procedure does require intravenous sedation and takes about 30–45 minutes; the endoscope is inserted via the mouth and can visualize the entire swallowing tube, stomach and duodenum. The procedure also allows the physician to obtain biopsy samples. In many cases of bleeding, the surgeon can use the endoscope to treat the source of bleeding with laser, clips or other injectable drugs. Other radiological studies frequently used to assess patients with chronic stomach problems include a barium swallow, where a dye is consumed and pictures of the esophagus and stomach are obtained every few minutes.
In the Mouth of the Whale In the Mouth of the Whale In the Mouth of the Whale is a 2012 science fiction novel by Paul J. McAuley, the third in his "Quiet War" sequence. While "The Quiet War" and "Gardens of the Sun" were set in a mid-term future solar system, "In the Mouth of the Whale" is spatially and temporally much further out, set thousands of years in the future around a Fomalhaut system long since colonised by refugees from the Quiet War. The first settlers, the Quick, have since been superseded by the True who are in turn challenged by the posthuman Ghosts.