Small Bowel Series

Your physician has referred you to the Diagnostic Services Department for a Small Bowel Series. For this exam to be successful, it is necessary to have your upper digestive tract clear, therefore, you will not be allowed food or liquids after midnight the night before your exam.

For this exam you will be asked to wear a hospital gown. When you arrive in the Diagnostic Imaging Department, you will be taken into one of the examination rooms. The technologist will take a preliminary film of your abdomen and show it to the radiologist.

You will then be given several cups of barium to drink. You will be asked to wait. This is to give the barium time to move through your digestive system. A technologist will be taking you back into an x-ray room for additional images at regular intervals, usually 30 minutes apart. This will continue until the barium has passed completely through your small bowel and is starting into your large intestine (colon). At that point, the radiologist or technologist will take some final images. Since every patient is different, the time it takes for the barium to pass through the small bowel can vary from 1 to 6 hours. With this in mind, please remember you may be in the Diagnostic Services Department for several hours.

Afterward your stool may look slightly white for a day or two. This is due to the barium. If you're having difficulty getting your bowels to move, tell your nurse or doctor. A laxative may be prescribed.

This exam can also be performed at the time a patient has an Upper GI Series.

LENGTH: Approximately 1 to 6 hours depending on how each individual's system absorbs the contrast and pushes it through.

If you are pregnant, or think you might be, tell your doctor and the technologist BEFORE your exam.