GI series
- noun
- /dʒiː aɪ ˈsɪriz/
- Specialized
- After drinking the barium solution, the patient underwent a GI series at the hospital.
- upper GI series
Examples
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The doctor ordered a GI series to examine the patient's digestive system.
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The doctor ordered a GI series to investigate the cause of her abdominal pain.
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A GI series can help reveal ulcers, tumors, or other abnormalities in the digestive tract.
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The GI series is essential for diagnosis.
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I had a GI series last week.
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After drinking the barium solution, she underwent a GI series to check for any abnormalities.
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The GI series revealed several issues in the patient's gastrointestinal tract.
Synonyms
A test where you swallow barium so doctors can X-ray your stomach and food pipe
How Invasive
- Specialized
- Specialized
- Specialized
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
Knowing 'GI' (gastrointestinal) and 'series' would let a learner infer this refers to a sequence of examinations or images of the digestive tract, so the general idea is accessible from the parts. However, the specific meaning — a particular radiographic diagnostic procedure involving contrast medium (barium) — is technical and not fully predictable from the constituents, making the term only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
GI series comes from GI, short for 'gastrointestinal', meaning the stomach and intestines, and series, meaning a set of X-ray pictures. Patients drink a special white liquid that makes the inside easy to see, so the phrase now means 'a set of X-ray pictures of the stomach and intestines'.