EBME Forums Forums Maintenance Technical Assistance Flexible Video and Fibrescopes

The Trust I currently work for are looking to renew some of their fibrescopes and are also looking at video fibrescopes.

The main player in this arena seems to be Keymed/Olympus but their are two pretenders to their crown in the U.K to my knowledge Pentax and Fujinon.

TWO OR MORE QUESTIONS

1)I am quite conversant with the Keymed set-up which is excellent (A case of you get what you pay for maybe?)but can anyone tell me about the support they receive from Pentax or Fujinon Technical & Clinical? What about Service Training?

2)I am told that Keymed-Olympus and Pentax use black&white CCD's in their flexible video fibrescopes using filters (strobing light at distal end)in order to build a full colour image whereas Fujinon uses a colour chip in their technology.

In your opinion which is technology has a future?

It seems strange to me that companies are using B&W CCD's in their flexible scopes but in their surgical endoscopic camera systems colour CCD's are used. i.e single chip colour or three chip systems are offered for minimal invasive surgery never black and white.

Is this down to cost or is it due to the size of colour CCD's being physically larger than B&W units rendering them unsuitable for flexible scopes?

Keymed service is good, but the labour price of £150 per hour (for service of electromed equipment), and £75 per hour travel is unjustified. Their service contract charge on scopes is also high compared to other olympus suppliers in other countries.

We have all our rigid scopes serviced & repaired by a company called Microscopix (tel 01992 469085), who are also a manufacturer. Their service is very good and a quarter of the cost of keymed.

I have heard that the french olympus agent is far cheaper than Keymed. Keymed may have the lions share here, but not in the rest of Europe and the USA. Pricing for sales and service is far more competetive in those areas. We have just about all keymed equipment, because the consultants don't want to try anything else.

I can't comment on other suppliers.

Our consultants have recently trialed Pentax and Fuji scopes - at the insistance of Supplies - and have signed up to the Pentax equipment. By that I mean they have signed an evaluation sheet to say that the Pentax stuff is good and that they would be prepared to use it.

We are entirely Keymed for the flexible scopes and find them very expensive to maintain. Pentax are certainly cheaper to buy and should be cheaper to run. I'll let you know if / when we actually buy some !

Someone from Keymed did explain why they used the B&W CCD's with this complex strobing system - but it was a long time ago and I can't be sure I remember the details accurately - but I THINK it was because the definition available from a B&W chip was much higher than from a colour chip. I can't see the relevance of that argument if you do the comparison to a 3 chip colour system, plus the fact that colour technology must have moved ahead in leaps and bounds over the last few years with the increase in digital cameras etc.

It COULD be because this system ensures that you have to use an Olympus light source and camera control unit with the scope rather than cheaper alternatives. Just a thought !

Thanks John & Roy.
Keymed seem to have the Flexible endoscopy market 'sewn up' and they do offer a complete package. We currently use Keymed equipment for our endoscopy suites and all the equipment is on expensive service contracts, it sounds much like the same situation as yourselves. Has anyone been offered or attended a Keymed service course? If our equipment has a fault their is little we can do about it apart from ring Keymed.

Why are consultants so reluctant to try equipment from other manufacturers? Especially when it seems the Technology in colour video endoscopy has moved on.

All I can say is that I do not know of any other company who offer the type of contract that Keymed offer. That is the unconditional contract on Olympus Fiberscopes. We have almost all our scopes on the Keymed contract, and it has paid dividends over the last few years. One scope in particular was accidentally autoclaved, and Keymed carried out an obviously major repair under the £1,000 contract.

If your scopes do not get damaged frequently, then Keymed wins all the way to the bank. However if your scopes are frequently damaged, as ours are, then it is a very worthwhile contract.

Pentax offer a service contract but it is not much more than an annual inspection.

Storz do not offer any type of contract, but say that you will not be hit with any massive repair bills. However their repairs, in my experience, take a very long time. Keymed always send loan scopes, when requested, as part of the contract.

I have also had the opportunity visit Keymed, and their setup and organisation is second to none, as you might expect.

Keymed are definately expensive, but you can't beat them for outstanding service!

We have a mixture of scopes and processors here in our Endoscopy unit. Pentax and Keymed.
As I understand it, Keymed do provide a more comrehensive service contract, but this has not been without errors (i.e scopes not covered we thought were, wrong dates etc) but this was prob down to some temp they had in the office.
Pentax however do offer FREE TRAINING to both EBME Technicians, as well as Nursing Staff.
As I have recently disscoverd they are expanding their operation in Slough, so the U.K market must be picking up for them.
They are in the process of organising a dedicated service contract area, and have been told they will be employing more lab techs to cope with the demand in servicing.
from an EBME Technicians point of view ( and this is my personal view) the course was very good and gave a good background into endoscopes of all types (having not known much about em before). Their simulator there is used for training Consultants and Technicians alike, so from this point of view, thought it was excellent.
For more info on their study days
contact:Christine Regragui on 01753-792-792

Chris-H

The Trust I worked at purchased Fujinon scopes from Endoscopy UK after being a KeyMed hospital. We found that there customer support was better, products cheaper. The Technical Director at Endo UK is Colin Sutton who is ex KeyMed, he is very friendly and helpful. I'm sure he can tailor a contract that meets your needs

Re the monochrome chip colour chip question.
Olympus make 2 completely seperate & incompatible endoscope ranges, each requiring their own camera dedicated controllers & light sources.
There is the relatively inexpensive 100 series scopes like the GIF 140 using colour chips which are marketed all over Europe and the USA, and there is the deluxe 200 series like the GIF 240 which uses the colour shutter light sources and costs the earth and which I believe is sold only in Japan and UK.
Could this be the reason that Keymed charge so much in the UK for the original scopes and the maintenance?