Eliminating scope infection risk

In recent years there have been mounting concerns regarding reusable scopes with numerous reports of bacterial infections associated with the medical devices. Re-usable devices used in colonoscopies; to examine patients’ lungs; and to probe the bladder have all been linked to ‘superbug’ outbreaks and even deaths in hospitals across the U.S.1, 2 In March 2015, the Los Angeles Times reported that four patients at the Cedars-Sinai hospital had been infected with a multi-resistant microbe linked to a contaminated medical scope, while 67 others may have been exposed. A similar outbreak was investigated at UCLA’s Ronald Reagan Medical Center where seven patients had been infected, two of whom died. Up to 179 patients may also have been exposed.1,12,13 

The risk of cross-contamination from bronchoscopes is not a new issue, however. In 1996 the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) drew attention to the potential risk of patient-to-patient cross-contamination if bronchoscopes are not reprocessed correctly. In 2009 and 2015 the FDA issued two safety communications regarding the risk of cross-contamination from flexible endoscopes and bronchoscopes and highlighted issues surrounding the reprocessing process.3, 4 

Federal lawmakers, consumer advocates and patients’ families have criticised both the regulators and manufacturers for failing to act sooner. The report on Cedars raises the prospect of many more disclosures, experts have warned, as other hospitals scour patients’ medical records and the scopes themselves looking for evidence linking infections to the devices.1