Flexible endoscopy is gaining increasing importance in the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) diseases and often replaces surgical interventions. A wide range of dedicated instruments and specially designed “operative” endoscopes enables to stop GI bleedings, to remove benign and early malignant tumors, or to reopen narrowings of the GI tract. The armamentarium of advanced instruments is steadily growing, promising a further expansion of interventional endoscopy. An overview of the most important equipment for operative endoscopy and its clinical applications is provided in this chapter.
