Dr. Lipkin shares his first impressions on the Flex XC1 Single Use Ureteroscope, how he sees it playing a role in his practice, and additional insights into the ergonomic and operational benefits of a single use solution.
my very first impression was how light it was. Um it's really almost weightless in in the hand. And um at first I was a little concerned, it could be too light, but then as you're using it throughout the case, it's just really nice. Um, I thought the ergonomics were great. And then obviously once we were able to place it into the patient, um, you know, my first impression was like, I feel like I'm using a reusable digital scope. The image was really just on par with what we would expect from our reusable digital scopes. Yeah, I mean, I personally think that single use scopes will probably become the standard for flexibility, dangerous copy, which is very exciting for me because having more technology and tools to treat my patients and I think having a scope like this come out in the market will push everybody else to improve their optics as well, which gives us more choices. And I think again, the fact that the flex XC one is essentially a FLex XC that I can throw out I think is really exciting and it brings all the technology and benefits that the FLEX XC has think it's exciting times to be in a new urologist. I think it was really exciting to finally have a signal. You scope that I felt like legitimately reproduced the optical performance of what we were so used to using for me. It's all about doing what's best and safest for my patient. And uh, you know, different patients have different goals when it comes to train their stones. Some patients are very adamant about not wanting a stent for instance, and those patients are more apt to not use an access sheet that in those cases a fiber optic scope is very helpful because they're smaller and they're easier to pass up the euro over wire. Some patients are emphatic, they want to be stone free. Um, and in those cases we may use an access sheet. Um, and in that case optics become very important when you're trying to look around and maneuver around uh, in the kidney. And so having, um, you know, 100% deflection is very helpful. Um, and then obviously there's the concerns about breaking our scope. So in very, very complex cases, it's really nice to be able to pull a single use scope off the case off the shelf part. Um, and you know, no matter what you do at the end of the case, you're just gonna throw it out. So if you're deflected maximally for a prolonged period of time or you're in some weird contorted position because of the anatomy, you know, worry about breaking these really expensive scopes. I think for me, I'm very fortunate to have a substantial number of reusable scopes. However, so I don't necessarily know at this time whether I would use it in every case though. I think from a performance perspective, there's no reason you couldn't. Um, for me, I would certainly use it in patients with more complicated anatomy where again, I know I'm gonna be particularly hard on the scope patients where I really need that maximal deflection. So maybe a lower pulse stone in an acute angle where I need 100% of that 270° and knowing the scope is new, um it's really helpful. Um The infection stone patients, you know, it's an open ended question about the impact of using reasonable scopes and infections. Though I am a little bit more comfortable or at least I feel a little bit better using the single scope in those cases, knowing again that if the scope does get contaminated it's just gonna get thrown out. Um So those are the primary places where I incorporated in my practice. I will say that one of the other really nice things about the single use scope in particular is for the nursing staff, it's really easy. Um And they don't have to worry about opening the carrier and finding a broken scope. They don't worry about running out of scopes. It's literally taking out of the package, plug it in the end of the case, they don't have to wipe it down, they don't have to flush it, they don't have to re put it in the carrier, they just throw it out. So from a process standpoint. I think our staff actually really likes it. Amazing. I mean it's really like I said on par with the gold standard, which you know inflexible curiosity. The flex XC has been that for a long time, along with our other reasonable digital scopes. And it's it's the same, so it's very impressive.
