Preventing hospital infections with single-use devices

While the earliest attempts at endoscopy date back to Greek and Roman times, the discipline found its way into mainstream medicine with the invention of flexible endoscopes in the 1940s and 50s. Its technology grew increasingly sophisticated with the arrival of fiber optics in the 1960s and became digital in the 1980s.¹

Today, around 100 million endoscopy procedures are performed every year, saving millions of lives.

However, due to the growing number of procedures, the increasing age of treated patients and the increasing resistance of pathogens, some procedures carry the risk of exogenous contaminations from reusable endoscopes.²

Improperly sterilized endoscopes can increase the risk of infecting patients and, in some cases, even lead to hospital outbreaks.²

The current COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of infection prevention in endoscopy and accelerated the uptake of single-use endoscopes to avoid exogenous cross contaminations. Single-use duodenoscopes eliminate key steps in the reprocessing cycle and the potential aerosolization of bacterial and viral particulates that could potentially infect healthcare staff.

Disposable devices also eliminate cross-contamination risk between patients due to insufficient duodenoscope reprocessing between procedures.²

With the introduction of EXALT Model D and a comprehensive portfolio of diagnostic and therapeutic devices, we now offer a suite of single-use devices for ERCP to keep patients and healthcare professionals safe.

As hospitals adapt to the new normal, we are providing our field sales organization with PPE-certified equipment for their use when supporting cases on site.

Boston Scientific’s teams are working continuously to assess the COVID-19 situation as it evolves to help customers minimize disruptions and protect the wellbeing of their patients and staff.