Super Low Cost Video Endoscopy System

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Super Low Cost Video Endoscopy Systems!

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A better Endoscope? Olympus Pentax Fujinon be afraid!

Physicians from the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine have developed an alternative to traditional endoscopes, long, tube-shaped optical viewing instruments that allow doctors to peer inside the body for irritation, ulcers, inflammation and abnormal tissue.


Endoscopic carts, complete with a display monitor, external light source and thermal paper printer, typically cost $30,000 or more. They are difficult to move and have no electronic data storage or information transfer capabilities. By contrast, Perseus's patented "Miniature Fiber Optic Workstation" costs $2,200 a pop. The workstation is portable, using wireless technology and real-time video to store information, manage data, and transfer visuals to operating room monitors.


Though Perseus anticipates competition from established endoscopic equipment manufacturers, it has not found any comparable product on the market. Market research suggests that 53,500 new endoscopic units will be sold in the U.S. in 2009. The global market is roughly twice that size and is expected to grow at a rate of at least 5% a year.


Timeline: Perseus anticipates having a working prototype with FDA approval by March 2009. It projects sales to grow from 1,450 units in 2009 to more than 14,900 units by 2013

U.S. researchers create world's smallest endoscope

Capsule devise can be swallowed more easily, engineers say

By Kyung M. Song
The Seattle Times


University of Washington researcher Tom Johnston shows how a tiny tethered laser scanner, ingested orally, gives a view of his teeth, on January 25.
McClatchy Newspapers


Researchers at the University of Washington have developed a laser scanner that is so small it can fit inside a pill as pictured here. The diagnostic device is intended to be used to scope out cancer in the esophagus.
McClatchy Newspapers
It's one of the world's smallest devices for probing a human body: a tiny laser scanner the size of a Tylenol, tethered to an optical fiber, used to scope out cancer in the esophagus.
The flexible capsule endoscope, invented by engineers at the University of Washington, is about half the size of its nearest competitor, and it's much easier to swallow than traditional endoscopes, which are so thick that patients would gag if they weren't sedated.

But the invention's toughest hurdle may be low-tech - getting health insurers to pay for the new endoscopes.

Lack of insurance coverage has stymied sales of a competitor, the Israeli-made PillCam ESO, a camera-in-a-pill that the federal Food and Drug Administration approved for marketing in 2004. That company has estimated that 30 million Americans belong to health plans that will pay for PillCam ESO. But that's just 15 percent of the nation's insured.

Nonetheless, the University of Washington inventors are hoping they can slip their pill past the insurance companies' resistance because it would be cheaper and quicker than the PillCam ESO - and offering doctors more control.

Unlike the Israeli-made device, which is ingested and passed through the digestive tract, the University of Washington's new laser-scanner capsule can be pulled back out like a traditional endoscope, a tool that has a light attached to the end and is used to examine the body cavity or organs.

And unlike those traditional endoscopes, the University of Washington's capsule endoscope does not require anesthesia.

Ultimately, University of Washington engineers think the early benefits would be to new patients who have shied away from getting checked for esophageal cancer because of discomfort, cost or time. "This is going to bring more people to get endoscopies," said Eric Seibel, a research associate professor in mechanical engineering at the University of Washington and one of the lead inventors.

More than 15,000 Americans were diagnosed with esophageal cancer last year. Another 14,000 people died of it, according to the National Cancer Institute. White men are most susceptible. Avoiding smoking and alcohol decreases the risk of esophageal cancer.

Another risk factor is gastric reflux, when digested food or bile backs up into the esophagus and can irritate the esophagus and lead to abnormal cells that increase the likelihood of cancer. Tens of millions of U.S. adults are affected.

The University of Washington's capsule endoscope captures video images as the tiny scanner is moved up and down the esophageal tube. Such control is not possible with the untethered PillCam. The university's scope's tip is sheathed in a pill-shaped plastic cover to give it enough weight for swallowing.

However, if the scope detects abnormal cells, the patient then must get a separate biopsy. By contrast, traditional endoscopes take tissue samples simultaneously.

Lisa Norton, a technology manager with University of Washington TechTransfer which helps license faculty inventions, said the university may soon sign a production agreement with a medical-device manufacturer. Then, if the probe is approved by the FDA, it could be available for sale in a couple of years.

In the meantime, Seibel and his colleagues are thinking ahead to other potential uses for their flexible scopes. Those could include devices that can scan hard-to-reach body parts such as the pancreatic or fallopian tubes - or probe inside the farthest corners of airplane wings.

If they strike commercial success, the University of Washington would get two thirds of the profit, while Seibel and his 15 or so co-inventors would get the other third.

"It won't make us rich, but it's something that could supplement our income," Seibel said.

FUJINON CORPORATION JOINS WITH GIVEN IMAGING

FUJINON CORPORATION of Fujifilm Group (President: Takeshi Higuchi, hereinafter called Fujinon) formed a strategic cooperation agreement with Given Imaging Ltd. (head office: Israel, President and CEO: Homi Shamir, hereinafter called Given) in “Sale”, “Parts supply”, and “Research and Development” in the field of gastroenterological endoscope in March of this year. By the alliance between Fujinon, which continuously develops and releases characteristic new products such as Double-Balloon Endoscope System with unique technology, and Given, which is the world innovator and leader in manufacturing Capsule Endoscopes, both companies cooperate and complement each other in the field of gastroenterological endoscopy. Accordingly they will achieve stronger competitiveness and maintain strengthened leading position on technical level for next generation of endoscope system.

Double-Balloon Endoscope System, which was developed by Fujinon in 2004, has been already introduced more than 500 hospitals in 40 countries. Over 500,000 Capsule Endoscopes provided by Given has been sold in more than 60 countries so far. Capsule Endoscope and Double-Balloon Endoscope System make less invasive examination and treatment possible in the area of small intestine, having been called “Black Organ”. In clinical practice, studies with the combination of Capsule Endoscope useful in examinations and Double-Balloon Endoscope System especially effective in treatments have been carried out frequently, to get significant achievements.

Under the strategic cooperation, Fujinon has taken distributorship (non-exclusive) of workstation for Given’s Capsule Endoscope (product name: RAPID), data recorder, and capsule (product name: PillCam SB, PillCam Agile Patency) worldwide. As a first step, Fujinon and Given will determine on a case-by-case basis in which countries Fujinon will sell the joint portfolio of products so that both companies leverage their strengths. Over time, the two companies will negotiate to expand this collaboration to more geographical regions across the globe. By adding Capsule Endoscope to the product portfolio of Fujinon, the company will provide powerful customer solutions and expand sales worldwide by interacting with Double-Balloon Endoscope.

In parts supply, Fujinon will contribute to more high-performance of Given’s Capsule Endoscope such as high-quality images and high-functions. To begin with, Fujinon plans to supply high-performance lens units for Capsule Endoscope to Given.

Additionally, in Research and Development, fusion of much know-how in advanced optical technique of Fujinon and medical imaging analysis technique in Capsule Endoscope of Given will promote collaborative developments of next generation of system in the field of gastroenterology. Fujinon will provide more effective and less invasive therapeutic approaches for digestive diseases and contribute to medical progress by strengthening the collaboration between both companies and expanding the fields.

About Fujinon :
Fujinon has continually developed as an optical equipment manufacturer of Fujifilm Group. The company has developed numerous products compatible with high-performance and high-quality images using the established optical techniques and provided them to the whole world. In the broadcast fields, the company developed lens compatible with Hi-Vision early and got various lineup including the 101x lens which is the highest quality zoom lens in the world, to have more than 50% of the worldwide market share. Regarding the lens unit for a mobile phone with camera function getting popular in the market, the company leads the world with high-resolution, compact lens unit using aspherical lenses.
In the fields of endoscopes, the company has developed continuously various innovative products promoted the expansion of business by introducing the products such as Double-Balloon Endoscope System, which make the examination and treatment in whole small intestine possible, endoscopic diagnostic imaging support functions FICE, and trans-nasal gastroscope which is prevailing in Japan and Asia for the examination with less pain to be inserted through the nose.
Endoscope business of the company maintains two digit growth every year, and aims at further expansion and growth in the fields of gastroenterological endoscopy.

About Given :
Given is redefining gastrointestinal diagnosis by developing, producing and marketing innovative, patient-friendly products for detecting gastrointestinal disorders. The company’s technology platform is the PillCam™ Platform, featuring the PillCam video capsule, a disposable, miniature video camera contained in a capsule, which is ingested by the patient, a sensor array, data recorder and RAPID® software. Given has three commercially available capsules: the PillCam SB video capsule to visualize the entire small intestine which is currently marketed in the United States and in more than 60 other countries; the PillCam ESO video capsule to visualize the esophagus; and the Agile™ patency capsule to determine the free passage of the PillCam capsule in the GI tract. The PillCam COLON video capsule to visualize the colon has been cleared for marketing in the European Union, and multi-center clinical trials are underway in Europe and the U.S. A capsule to visualize the stomach is under development. More than 500,000 patients worldwide have benefited from the PillCam capsule endoscopy procedure. Given’s headquarters, manufacturing and R&D facilities are located in Yoqneam, Israel; it has direct sales and marketing operations in the United States, Germany and France, and local offices in Japan, Spain and Australia.

Endoscope Endoscopy Saves Aussie Rules footballer

AN Aussie Rules footballer from Adelaide rushed to hospital after swallowing a bottle cap from a beer-filled premiership cup has had his case reported in the latest edition of the British Medical Journal.

The unnamed 24 year-old Adelaide man inadvertently gulped down the serrated West End beer cap after downing the beer in the bottom of the cup on September 15.
"He felt something in his throat and it was a beer bottle cap in his chest, stuck in his oesophagus," Royal Adelaide Hospital's Dr Robert Douglas said.

Tests showed the man's blood-alcohol concentration was almost 0.11. The bottle cap obstructed his breathing, before moving into his chest.

Doctors removed it using an endoscope, a flexible tube with a camera and retrieval instrument attached.

"This is the first one of these I've seen (personally), but we see stupid stuff all the time – it always involves young blokes, beer, girls and sport," Dr Douglas said.

Olympus Pentax Fujinon Endoscope Endoscopy Endoscopia