Flexible endoscopes in healthcare are used in various medical procedures to diagnose and treat conditions such as reflux, ulcers, polyps, and other intestinal diseases.

What are Flexible Endoscopes?
Components and Types of Flexible Endoscopes
Flexible endoscopes are delicate, complex medical devices requiring special care, handling, and reprocessing. Typical components of a flexible endoscope include:

Handling Flexible Endoscope
Mechanical System: Control body, insertion tubes, lights, and bendable sections
Imaging Systems: Often video fiberoptic cables, connectors, and water-resistant caps
Channels: Suction and biopsy channels, as well as air or water and elevator guide wires
Accessories: Valves, biopsy forceps, snares, and dilators While many flexible endoscopes have similar
components, each device type is unique and specialized, often for a specific procedure. A few examples include:
Gastroscopes – Used to examine the upper digestive tract
Colonoscopes – Used during colonoscopy procedures to view the large intestine
Bronchoscopes – Used to check airways, including lungs
During a procedure, these complex endoscopes and their internal channels/lumens are exposed to various body fluids and chemistries that are transferred to surfaces and inside channels or lumens. Before the endoscope can be available for the next patient, it must undergo a series of reprocessing steps to remove microorganisms and bioburden to a level safe for that next patient.
With more than 20 million gastroenterology procedures each year and various procedures using flexible endoscopes expected to grow at 1.3% from 2023-2030, sterile processing and endoscopy technicians have many complex endoscopes that need reprocessing.