BehindTheMedspeak: Fiber-optic scope goes commercial

I've been using a medical-grade version of this instrument for many years.

It's a flexible tube with a light source in the handle, some of whose glass fibers transmit the light to the tip, illuminating whatever's there; the remainder of the fibers carry the image back to the eyepiece in the handle.

You focus with a ring around the eyepiece.

There are, however, a few differences between the type I use, which runs around $5,000, and the one featured in this post (above).

1) The one sold here can't really be sterilized: it's not meant to be subjected to the extremes of temperature and chemicals required for medical use and re-use.

Having said that, it should be noted that from time to time epidemics of infection arise due to improperly sterilized medical-grade scopes.

Adding to the unease about reuse is the awareness that certain organisms, among them the prions that cause Mad Cow and variant CJD, are not killed by the sterilization procedures routinely used in hospitals and clinics.

2) The "borescope," as Garrett Wade calls it for reasons completely unknown to me, is powered by AA batteries; the medical version must be plugged in to the wall to provide sufficient power. I suspect the medical version has a much clearer image as a result.

3) Most important from a clinical point of view, the medical version (below)

is manipulable: that is, the operator can move the tip in any direction with controls attached to the eyepiece. This is what makes it so valuable, especially to an anesthesiologist attempting a difficult intubation.

The point of the borescope is that you can see down drains and into wall cavities via a 1/4" hole.

But you have to rely on gravity to direct it: if you need to look sideways or up, you're out of luck.

Having said all that, it's still pretty amazing that they can sell the 18"-long version for $300 and the 36"-model for $380.