the expanded distal portion 50 of the sheath 18 can be used to anchor or stabilize the endoscope 16 in the gastrointestinal tract to occlude the distal end 14 of the endoscopic assembly 10 from the proximal end 12 of the endoscopic assembly 10 or to tamponade a bleeding lesion fig5 shows the expanded sheath 18 configuration that can be used for used for stabilizing the tamponade the surface of the expanded distal portion 50 of the sheath 18 would cover and apply pressure against the tract wall to tamponade any bleeder this configuration could also anchor the assembly 10 within the tract the expanded diameter of the sheath 18 against the tract wall would prevent the assembly 10 from migrating in the tract fig6 and 8 show the assembly 10 in different configurations that could be used for retrieval fig6 shows the expanded sheath 18 open distal to a battery in the gastrointestinal tract the battery is retrieved by pulling the entire expanded assembly 10 proximal and out of the body in this configuration the expanded sheath 18 is also preventing the passage of fluid from one side of the expanded sheath 18 to the other the configuration of the invention shown in fig7 could be used similar to that of fig6 for retrieval or can be used as a dilator to be pushed distally to.