The healthcare industry has been steadily moving toward single-use endoscopes, driven by the need to reduce infection risk and simplify clinical workflows. Regulatory agencies like the FDA have encouraged this shift in light of repeated incidents involving contaminated reusable scopes. While single-use devices eliminate many of the challenges tied to cleaning and sterilization, the transition has raised new technical hurdles - particularly when it comes to image quality.
Modern procedures increasingly rely on high-resolution imaging to support accurate diagnostics and real-time decision-making. However, achieving that level of performance in a disposable device is not straightforward. These endoscopes must be compact, cost-effective, and power-efficient, leaving little room for the types of components traditionally used in high-bandwidth video systems.
A major barrier has been the lack of connectivity solutions that can maintain signal integrity under these constraints. Electromagnetic interference from electrosurgical tools is a particular problem in operating rooms, often degrading video quality or disrupting transmission altogether. Many conventional SerDes architectures are either too bulky, too power-hungry, or too sensitive to interference to be used effectively in this context.
Emerging standards like MIPI A-PHY offer a potential path forward.