Mediflex
Enhancing Safety with Disposable Insertion Tubes

The healthcare sector is transitioning toward a patient experience-oriented care delivery model. Especially in the endoscopy landscape, a shift is taking place from reprocessed medical devices toward single-use, disposable devices with patient safety in focus. The recent series of lawsuits after infection from reprocessed endoscopes, and the FDA warning on the use of reprocessed medical devices, have only accelerated this shift.

As challenges like high manufacturing costs stand to hinder this transition, Mediflex Inc is entering the endoscopy landscape with its disposable, progressive, and affordable insertion tubes.

The FDA compliant manufacturer has reverse engineering insertion tubes for OEM endoscopic devices features to be used as disposable replacements. The tubes are covered with its proprietary, ISO 10993 compliant coating with fewer layers than traditional insertion tubes. In addition, these tubes are progressive. In that the distal to proximal end grow stiffer to improve insertion by the gastroenterologist. This new process is patent pending, as its unique design into the market place. This new process actually lowers their cost over other disposable devices. Expenses being a major concern deterring hospitals from using disposable components, Mediflex’ s affordable insertion tubes resolve the issue to a great extent.

Mediflex Inc began as a traditional endoscopy parts manufacturer and later shifted to disposable insertion tubes to combat medical device contamination. The insertion tubes are also risk-free by being manufactured in their clean room throughout the building process. The disposable tubes are supplied after sterilization to hospitals, ensuring safety and allowing them to immediately use the devices without another sterilization process.

“These insertion tubes are manufactured in alignment with as many as seven different durometers on one tube.

These progressive tubes, allow tube designers, a wide range of stiffness available to them. This feature clearly addresses each manufacturer’s specification.” In addition, this new process allows tubes to be 25% thinner than ever thought possible,” says CEO, David Weiss, Mediflex Inc.

While many major manufacturers are shifting toward disposable parts for their endoscopic products, Mediflex Inc meets their needs with its ability to manufacture disposable insertion tubes per a broad range of specifications.

There have been many cases where Mediflex Inc has manufactured thinner tubes than traditional insertion tubes to meet certain treatment requisites. Thinner tubes are especially used in urinary catheter manufacturing or in cases where doctors need to sense the tube’s performance apart from viewing it on a screen. Ultra-thin insertion tubes also aid in complex treatment procedures like removing blood clots.

The insertion tubes are manufactured in alignment with as many as seven different durometer during the production process to address each manufacturer’s specification

With every specification, its proprietary coating remains more resilient than the original and reprocessed tube’s constructed from polyolefin heat shrink tubing. The coating is deemed strong as it can withstand exposure to 600 cycles of hydrogen peroxide and sterilizers to exceed the performance of other manufacturer’s base coating.

The stimulus that drove medical device manufacturers and healthcare organizations into using disposable components is being addressed by Mediflex Inc. Many challenges that hindered the shift have been resolved, like inexpensive metal oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor (MOSFET) cameras improving image quality in disposable devices or hospitals struggling to bring quality and cost together. Through Mediflex Inc, device manufacturers, healthcare providers, and patients can stay assured of the quality of the endoscopic insertion tubes.