Performance of a Single-use Gastroscope (aScope Gastro) for Esophagogastroduodenoscopy

Esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) is an important tool in the diagnosis and treatment of upper gastrointestinal-disorders. It has broad range of indications including dysphagia, gastroesophageal reflux disease, esophageal strictures or upper gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. It is a common procedure and is performed around 6.1 million times annually in the United States. However, performing endoscopy is not without risk and complications of EGD include perforation, bleeding, aspiration, and infection. Endoscopy associated infection (EAI) can be endogenous, due to translocation of the patient's own microbial gut flora into the bloodstream, or exogenous as a result of contaminated equipment. The latter receives increased attention as several outbreaks have been reported past decades. Endoscopes cannot be sterilized and require an extensive cleaning process in which breaches of cleaning protocols, endoscope damage or the formation of biofilm can prevent proper disinfection. Many of the published outbreaks involved contaminated duodenoscopes. However, multiple outbreaks due to a contaminated gastroscopes have also been described. The prevalence of contaminated ready-to-use gastroscopes has rarely been studied. One study reported the contamination of ready-to-use gastroscopes to be 64% post-high-level disinfection (HLD), which went down to 9% post-storage. It is probable that EAI's are underreported due to a lack of recognition of EAI's caused by sensitive microorganisms, sparse microbiological surveillance post-endoscopy or the possibly long duration between the endoscopy and the development of the infection. However, even if the risk of EAI is low, due to the large numbers of endoscopies performed worldwide the number of affected patients is significant. Single use endoscopes would completely eliminate the risk of exogenous EAI's. Already multiple single-use duodenoscopes have been brought to the market whose performance seems be comparable to reusable duodenoscopes. To address the risk of contaminated gastroscopes, Ambu is a company who produced a single-use gastroscope, the Ambu® aScope™ gastro. It is a lightweight scope equipped with two LED lights for optimal illumination and a high-resolution digital camera. The aScope gastro has recently been CE-approved, but no studies about its performance in patients have been published