Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UroToday.com) Andrew Shea Afyouni, a medical student from the University of California, Irvine Department of Urology, presented his department’s ongoing work on creating a disruptive endoscopic tool known as the “Endockscope.” The Endockscope is a device that utilizes an everyday smartphone, such as an iPhone 10 or Samsung Galaxy S9+, and combines it with a lens system and rechargeable LED light source to provide a $45 laparoscope that can be used in endoscopic procedures. Compared to standard cameras and high-power light sources that are used to power conventional endoscopes in the operating room, the Endockscope is a much lower cost alternative. In this study, researchers compared the performance of their manufactured Endockscope to the standard high-power light source and camera viewing system using a broad range of rigid/semi-rigid endoscopes in a male cadaver model.
Mr. Afyouni went on to explain that, in this study, standard endoscopy was performed in two adult male cadavers using a KARL STORZ rigid cystoscope, semi-rigid ureteroscope, rigid nephroscope, and 30-degree laparoscope paired with a high-powered light source and HD camera system. Researchers then proceeded to repeat endoscopy using the Endockscope with either the Apple iPhone 10 or the Samsung Galaxy S9+.
12 UC Irvine faculty and 4 resident physicians were blinded to the source of the videos and assessed each clip they viewed for image resolution, brightness, color quality, sharpness, and overall image quality and rendered a binary “yes” or “no” judgment as to the acceptability of each video for diagnostic purposes.
Results demonstrated that the Endockscope plus the iPhone X was equivalent to the standard camera for rigid cystoscopy, rigid nephroscopy, and semi-rigid ureteroscopy but was inferior for laparoscopy. Conversely, they found that the Endockscope combined with the Galaxy S9+ was rated to be equivalent to the standard camera for rigid cystoscopy, rigid nephroscopy, and laparoscopy and was superior for semi-rigid ureteroscopy.
In conclusion, Mr. Afyouni and the departmental team found that the $45 Endockscope combined with an $840 Samsung Galaxy S9+ smartphone provided comparable image quality and diagnostic capabilities to a standard high-powered light source and camera system for all types of urological endoscopy.
Presented by: Andrew Shea Afyouni, medical student, Department of Urology, the University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California
Written by: Rajiv Karani, University of California, Irvine Department of Urology at the 37th World Congress of Endourology (WCE) – October 29th-November 2nd, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates