INSTRUMENTS USED FOR GASTRO‐INTESTINAL BIOPSY

SUMMARY Since the introduction, in 1949, of the technique of blind suction biopsy of gastric mucosa, many instruments have been developed in attempts to gain an increasing number of specimens from all parts of the intestinal tract with greater certainty and facility, and with the least discomfort and risk to the patient. The mechanical principles and mode of operation of the most important of these per‐oral gastro‐intestinal biopsy devices are reviewed in this paper, and the advantages and disadvantages of the various designs discussed. Personal experience has been gained with the Wood gastric and small intestinal biopsy tubes, the Crosby capsule and the Baker‐Hughes multiple‐retrieving tube ; the relative merits of these instruments are considered briefly. Gastro‐intestinal biopsy has already added much to our knowledge of diseases which affect the alimentary tract, and is now firmly established, not only as a routine diagnostic procedure, but also in the assessment of the efficacy of such therapeutic regimes as the wheat‐gluten‐free diet, and for the procurement of both normal and abnormal material for electron‐microscope, histochemical and enzyme‐assay studies.