More than 30 radioactive isotopes of barium are known, with mass numbers ranging from 114 to 153. The isotope with the longest half-life (barium-133, 10.5 years) is used as a gamma-ray reference source.

If you are normally on a special diet, like a diabetic, you should ask your doctor about planning your diet for this procedure. It is important that your stomach be empty in order to have a valid study. No food, fluids or medications should be taken after midnight the evening before the examination.

Do not eat or drink anything, including chewing gum, for eight to 12 hours before the exam – so your stomach and upper digestive tract are completely empty. You may brush your teeth but avoid swallowing any water.

Before Your Procedure For a satisfactory exam, your stomach must be empty. It is important that you not eat or drink anything for four hours before your exam.

The esophagram is done at the Department of Pediatric Radiology of Children’s Hospital. In the examination room will be a pediatric radiology doctor, who will be taking the X-ray pictures of your child’s esophagus, and an X-ray technologist, who will be helping the doctor.

Patients with swallowing problems who start to eat and drink could aspirate, and subsequently develop acute respiratory failure and increase their risk of developing a health-care-associated pneumonia.

If just the throat and esophagus are looked at, it’s called an esophagram (or barium swallow). Upper endoscopy is done instead of an upper GI series in certain cases. Endoscopy uses a thin, flexible tube (endoscope) to look at the lining of the esophagus, stomach, and upper small intestine (duodenum).

For safety reasons, you can’t drive for 24 hours after the procedure, as the sedatives used during the procedure need time to wear off. You will need to make plans for getting a ride home after the procedure.

Your doctor may order an upper GI endoscopy if you have long-term symptoms of GERD. Typical symptoms include heartburn, indigestion, regurgitation and nausea. Doctors perform an upper GI endoscopy with a special light that highlights abnormal tissue, and then they take a biopsy.

The test will take about 30 to 40 minutes. If you are also having a small bowel study, the test will take 2 to 6 hours.