If you are having stomach pain or difficulty going to the bathroom, your doctor may want pictures of your large intestine. The large intestine, which looks like a tube, helps move food through your body. Because it is inside your body, we take these pictures using a special camera called and X-ray machine. We get the best pictures when we coat the large intestine with a liquid called barium. This is why we call this test a barium enema.

This test usually asks you to be ready before arriving at Oregon Imaging Centers. Parents should check with our scheduling department or physician.

When you arrive at Oregon Imaging Centers, you and your parents will check in at the reception desk. You'll find televisions, magazines, puzzles and games in our waiting room. Just before your exam, you will change into special pajamas.

A technologist, who will take your picture, will bring you and your mom or dad into a room with an examination table. You will see the X-ray machine's camera next to the table.

The technologist will help you lie down on your side on the examination table and will take a picture. The technologist will insert a small flexible tube in the rectum, which is where you go to the bathroom. Then a person called a physician's assistant will come in and put barium, which looks like a white liquid, into the tube. This may feel uncomfortable and you might feel like you have to go to the bathroom, but it only lasts a few minutes. The technologist will leave the room to take more pictures. You will hear them press a button; CLICK, and then you'll hear a BUZZ. This will happen several times. Before you know it, the exam will be over.

**A reminder to moms who are pregnant or who might be pregnant: Please bring another adult with you to accompany your child during the procedure. We will ask that you watch the procedure from a shielded area to protect your unborn baby from X-rays. **