Digital Imaging Technology in the Healthcare Industry - A Case Study

Vygon, a leading UK provider of single use medical and surgical equipment, has significantly enhanced its customer service operation through investment in digital imaging technology from Nikon.

Thanks to the acquisition of a Nikon SMZ 800 stereo zoom microscope, complete with a Digital Sight camera and Nikon Software image archiving and networking software, the company can now be confident that their commitment to inspect returned products and send back comprehensive reports containing high quality images within 24 hours of receipt is met.

Optics in the Healthcare Industry

According to Graham Milward, Technical Support Services Manager at Vygon’s UK Laboratory, “In the healthcare market it is essential to address customer concerns as rapidly as possible, and to react accordingly.

We therefore needed a system with high quality optics that would allow us to instantly differentiate between product misuse, indicating a need for additional training, and a manufacturing error, that would need rectifying.

With the installation of the Nikon equipment, we can now check products virtually as they arrive rather than having to wait for reports from the manufacturing units. Furthermore, we can capture images digitally and embed them straight into our reports.”

Since many of Vygon’s products involve tubing, Graham opted for the Extended Depth of Focus function for Nikon Software. This allows images to be captured at various depths within a specimen then be overlaid to produce a single ‘3D’ composite image.

“When examining tubes or components that had a significant depth with our previous system, we were only able to thoroughly inspect the area that was in focus at the time, rather than the whole specimen. Now we can capture individual images then combine them to gain a much clearer view of the problem.”

The SMZ 800 Microscope

The SMZ 800 stereo zoom microscope has a 1x to 6.3x zoom ratio and objective lenses with high numerical apertures and high resolving power. This means it produces images that are distortion-free and natural looking with true-to-live colours, making it ideal for a wide range of examination procedures.

This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Nikon Instruments.

For more information on this source, please visit Nikon Instruments.