Ew, Gross: Reusable Endoscopes Are Not Clean
Duodenoscopes Open i beta Biomatter remains on 15 percent of supposedly clean reusable endoscopes. Bleck. Yeesh. After surveying 275 reusable gastrointestinal endoscopes from U.S. hospitals, researchers found that 15 percent aren't up to cleanliness standards. Gastrointestinal endoscopes carry cameras into the small intestine, stomach or colon, to help doctors examine those areas. As you can imagine, they get pretty dirty. If they're not well cleaned, they can transmit microbes and other biological matter between people. Researchers from the technology company 3M gathered endoscopes from five U.S. hospitals. They found different numbers of substandard cleaning for different types of scopes. Thirty percent of endoscopes designed to go into the small intestine weren't cleaned to standard. Twenty-four percent of endoscopes designed to go into the stomach had the same problem. Scopes for the colon fared the best, with only 3 percent hitting below standard. Scientists have long known that clean endoscopes are a problem...