These Devices Sickened Hundreds. The New Models Have Risks, Too.

NYT HEALTH: These Devices Sickened Hundreds. The New Models Have Risks, Too.
By Roni Caryn Rabin
Section: Health
Source: New York Times
Published Date: March 24, 2023 at 02:00AM

Duodenoscopes — tubular cameras threaded into the intestine — with disposable parts were supposed to be safer. But the parts can fall off in the body, the F.D.A. warned.

After medical instruments called duodenoscopes sickened hundreds of patients in hospital outbreaks a few years ago, the Food and Drug Administration urged health care facilities to switch to models with disposable components less likely to carry bacteria from one patient to another.
Now the agency says there are problems with those instruments, too.
Duodenoscopes are long, snakelike cameras inserted into the upper part of the small intestine through the mouth to diagnose and treat diseases of the pancreas and the bile duct. They are used in about 500,000 procedures a year in the United States, but are difficult to clean completely and can harbor disease-causing microbes like E. coli.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/health/fda-duodenoscopes.html