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INTRODUCTION – HISTORY OF ENDOSCOPES The use of endoscopes has markedly increased during the last century, although the fascination of performing surgery using a telescope dates back to Hippocrates. These early endoscopes used basic glass rods and “hot” incandescent light to visualize an object. Modern endoscopes use sophisticated prism rod lenses, fiber optics and a “cold” light source, which provides the surgeon with greater opportunity to perform more advanced surgical procedures than ever before. All surgical disciplines now enjoy the progress made in minimally invasive surgery (MIS) due to the advancements with endoscopes and minimally invasive instruments. Of course, instrument manufacturers were important partners to these pioneering surgeons and manufactured the many inventions, including the automatic insufflator, improved optics, thermo-coagulation devices, and the cold-light source. Today, both flexible and rigid endoscopes are an integral part of the instrument armamentarium used for a variety of surgeries that just a short time ago was only possible as open surgical procedures. These special scopes and their accompanying instruments continue to open new vistas for minimally invasive surgery. CARE OF ENDOSCOPES Flexible and rigid endoscopes are delicate instruments and must be treated with care to ensure they work properly for the surgical procedure. Although flexible and rigid endoscopes are constructed differently, both endoscope types require special handling during every step of the reprocessing cycle - cleaning, assembly, sterilization, transport and storage - to ensure they are in good working order for the next surgical procedure. It is very costly to repair and replace damaged endoscopes when steps for care, handling, and reprocessing are omitted or improperly performed by personnel who handle them. As discussed in the article “5 Big Endoscope Reprocessing Risks in ASCs: How to Avoid Them” (2014), some of the most serious errors in scope processing can include: • not using the manufacturer’s instructions for cleaning and sterilization/high level disinfection; • not using the manufacturer’s recommended supplies, equipment, and cleaning solutions to clean and prepare the scope for sterilization; • incorrectly completing or excluding cleaning steps recommended by the manu - facturer; • not checking the scope after cleaning to ensure it functions as intended; • improper storage for clean scopes; and • improper assembly process for sterilization. The care of all endoscopes includes the following principles. • Handle properly to prevent damage. • Educate the staff upon orientation and periodically to stay current with best practices. • Understand the structure, functionality and surgical use of the endoscope. • Utilize the manufacturer’s IFU (Instructions for Use) and hospital protocol for proper cleaning, inspection, assembly, sterilization or HLD (High Level Disin- fection) and storage of the endoscope.

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