Ambu, a Danish company, is releasing a single-use flexible cystoscope. Used for visualization within the bladder during diagnostic and interventional procedures, the Ambu aScope 4 Cysto comes ready to go in its sterile packaging and is disposed of once a procedure is complete. There is no reprocessing involved, the device doesn’t need to be repaired, and a clinical practice simply needs to keep stock of the scopes to provide relevant services. The chance of transferring an infection between patients drops to essentially zero. A urologist working within a hospital can simply take a scope and an accompanying portable monitor and walk with them to an emergency room or ICU to quickly start a procedure. Only the monitor has to be returned when coming back. Because nurses don’t have to spend time reprocessing scopes, and using nasty chemicals, they can be freed to provide improved care to patients. Moreover, disposable scopes can reduce the strain of properly scheduling appointments and re-processing so that there’s always enough scopes. The scope’s monitor can be used to show patients what you’re seeing and to also consult with colleagues by sharing images remotely. Source
