How Effective is Flexible Ureteroscope Reprocessing?

When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released a letter to healthcare providers in April 2021 announcing its investigation into numerous medical device reports involving reprocessed urological endoscopes, Dr. Seth Bechis and his colleagues set out to learn more about reprocessing and its effectiveness.

They focused on flexible ureteroscopes in their research and found that, while studies assessing the effectiveness of on these specific scopes is limited, their findings line up with recent news about other flexible endoscopes — that a surprising number still harbor protein and other debris even after reprocessing, raising patient safety concerns.

Their findings were published in the journal Urology. We caught up with Dr. Bechis at the American Urological Association’s annual convention in New Orleans to talk more about the study.

Dr. Bechis is a board-certified urologist and member of the comprehensive Kidney Stone Center at UC San Diego Health. Hes’ also an Ambu consultant.

Show notes:

• Bio: Seth Bechis
• Urology: “Reprocessing Effectiveness for Flexible Ureteroscopes: A Critical Look at the Evidence”
• Single-Use Endoscopy: “FDA Investigating Reports of Infections Associated with Reprocessed Urological Endoscopes”
• The FDA’s Letter to Healthcare Providers: Infections Associated with Reprocessed Urological Endoscopes
• Single-Use Endoscopy: “Why Problems with Reprocessing Ureteroscopes ‘Haven’t Gone Away’”
• Endoscopy Insights: Breaking Down the FDA Letter to Healthcare Providers
• Endoscopy Insights Show Page