Reassessment of barium radiographic examination in diagnosing gastrointestinal diseases

Gastrointestinal radiography (GIR) has been a major and first-choice method for diagnosing gastrointestinal diseases with barium as contrast media since its emergence in 1910, even in diagnosing the mass lesions of the organs outside gastrointestinal tract (e.g., liver, pancreas, etc) indirectly. The fiber endoscopy invented in the late 1960s can directly observe the changes on mucosal surface intraluminally and obtain biopsies as well, thus greatly improving the detection and sensitivity of small, shallow or tiny lesions originated from mucosa.