Updated version of EndoBench endoscope tester to be unveiled at the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) 2013 Expo, June 1 – 3
PORTLAND, MAINE – Lighthouse Imaging, LLC, a provider of endoscope image quality test equipment, announces a new addition to its line of portable endoscope testing equipment. The EndoBenchXT enables hospitals and scope repair ISOs to quantitatively measure rigid and flexible endoscope optical quality and performance prior to surgery to ensure patient safety, and to contain costs. This updated version includes a number of new features, including an extended direction of view measurement range, improved data interface, and updated system software.
This new version also includes a new Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) weighted average measurement. The EndoBenchXT quantitatively measures MTF – the image resolution or sharpness of endoscope optics – by using a backlit optical target, calibrated camera system, and custom software.
The EndoBench testers are the only products available that objectively measure all clinically relevant optical parameters. The EndoBench line also meets new Joint Commission standards for tracking rigid and flexible scopes in medical equipment inventory.
The need for this testing equipment is underscored by initial results of a new research project spearheaded by Lighthouse Imaging. The company recently tested the entire laparoscope endoscope inventory at a major Midwestern hospital using the EndoBench and discovered deficiencies in upwards of 10 percent of the hospital’s rigid endoscopes, including deteriorated image quality and improperly repaired scopes, which had not been readily discovered during normal use. A white paper of the research will be available at the upcoming AAMI 2013 Expo, scheduled for June 1 – 3 in Long Beach, CA.
“These results are not surprising – they are typical of what any medical facility would discover when using the EndoBench to test its inventory of endoscopes,” says Mark Waite, Lighthouse Imaging CEO. “Endoscope image quality is a hidden problem that, left unresolved, can pose significant problems for surgeons and clinical staff in the operating room.”
Lighthouse Imaging will display and demonstrate the new EndoBenchXT at the AAMI 2013 Expo.
Lighthouse Imaging offers a full line of endoscopic testing instruments that objectively measure and verify all clinically relevant optical parameters throughout the entire endoscope lifecycle. In addition to the line of portable EndoBench testers, Lighthouse Imaging also develops the EndoBench XTB, a bench–mounted endoscope image quality test system for scope manufacturing and scope repair QC testing, and the EndoLume, which enables biomedical engineers and medical professionals to test their entire endoscopic illumination system quickly, easily, and affordably on site.
About Lighthouse Imaging Corporation
Lighthouse Imaging is the leading provider of endoscope image quality test equipment, and is an award–winning provider of optical engineering and design services for the medical device industry, with more than 18 patents issued. Our NIST– traceable test and measurement equipment is manufactured in the United States at our ISO 9001/13485 certified and FDA registered facility.