Disposable endoscopy push: how Ambu aScope 5 Broncho targets ICU demand

Ambu’s aScope 5 Broncho single-use bronchoscope is pitched at intensive care and OR teams that want to cut infection risk and logistics around reusable scopes. The system pairs with Ambu’s aBox 2 processor and is now a core pillar of the Danish group’s endoscopy growth story.

Edited by ad hoc news New Releases & Launches Desk. Reviewed before publication on 06/15/2026 at 9:49 PM ET. Details in the imprint.

Ambu is leaning harder into single-use endoscopy with its aScope 5 Broncho line, a disposable bronchoscope family aimed at intensive care and OR teams that want predictable image quality without the burden of reprocessing reusable scopes. The aScope 5 Broncho range launched as Ambu’s first high-performance, single-use bronchoscopy platform and is designed to be used with the company’s aBox 2 video processor, creating a closed imaging ecosystem for hospitals and ambulatory centers. Ambu’s official product page describes the aScope 5 Broncho as its latest single-use bronchoscope platform.

What Ambu’s aScope 5 Broncho is designed to do

The aScope 5 Broncho series is targeted at a broad set of bronchoscopy procedures, from bedside bronchoscopy in the ICU to elective diagnostic and interventional cases in the bronchoscopy suite. Ambu offers several sizes, including Slim, Regular and Large variants, allowing physicians to choose a working channel dimension that fits tasks from lung inspection and secretion management to transbronchial biopsies and airway interventions. The scopes are supplied sterile and intended for single use, which means staff discard them after a procedure instead of sending them through high-level disinfection or sterilization cycles.

Image quality is a central selling point: Ambu promotes the aScope 5 Broncho as a high-resolution, single-use scope family with improved imaging, maneuverability and suction capability compared with earlier aScope generations. The scopes connect to Ambu’s aBox 2 processor, which handles video processing and output to external monitors, and the company says the system aims to provide image quality that can support demanding flexible bronchoscopy work in pulmonology and anesthesia. On top of optics, Ambu emphasizes ergonomic control and a familiar handle layout for clinicians who regularly switch between reusable and disposable scopes in daily practice.

Clinically, the use cases overlap with conventional flexible bronchoscopes: physicians can use the aScope 5 Broncho for airway inspection, secretion removal, bronchoalveolar lavage, guiding endotracheal tube placement, and assisting with bronchial blocker positioning. Ambu also highlights interventional applications such as transbronchial lung biopsies and placement of devices in the bronchial tree, where a robust working channel and reliable suction are important. Because each device is new out of the package, image degradation from wear and tear is avoided, which can be an issue with older reusable scopes that have seen many reprocessing cycles.

Infection prevention and logistics are critical to Ambu’s value proposition. Single-use bronchoscopes remove the need for specialized reprocessing equipment, disinfectants and drying cabinets, which can be significant cost and space factors in smaller hospitals. They also reduce the risk of cross-contamination linked to insufficient cleaning of complex endoscope channels, a concern that has driven broader adoption of disposable scopes in recent years. Without reprocessing, hospitals can free up staff time, and departments that struggle with scope availability due to repair cycles or bottlenecks can keep procedures running with a fresh device for each case.

Economically, Ambu argues that the total cost of ownership for reusable bronchoscopes is often underestimated when capital expenditure, reprocessing labor, consumables, possible infection-related events and repairs are all accounted for. In settings with lower procedure volumes, remote sites or intensive care units that perform urgent bronchoscopies at unpredictable times, single-use scopes can be easier to justify than a full reusable fleet and centralized reprocessing infrastructure. For higher-volume bronchoscopy suites, Ambu positions the aScope 5 Broncho as a complement that can cover specific patient groups or time slots where logistics around reusable scopes are particularly tight.

The aScope 5 Broncho also fits Ambu’s broader strategy to build procedure-specific single-use portfolios, where a disposable scope is paired with a dedicated visualization platform. The aBox 2 processor is compatible not only with the aScope 5 Broncho but also with other Ambu single-use endoscopes, giving hospitals a way to standardize imaging hardware while using different single-use scopes across pulmonology, critical care and anesthesia. From a procurement standpoint, that bundling can simplify vendor management and training, because staff learn a common platform even as they switch between procedure types.

Ambu has repeatedly framed single-use endoscopy as its primary growth engine, and the aScope 5 Broncho sits at the center of that push in pulmonology and critical care. In its recent financial updates, the company has highlighted strong growth in single-use endoscopy revenue and pointed to increased adoption of its latest-generation scopes as a key driver. An article on the German site FinanzNachrichten summarizing Ambu’s quarterly figures noted that the endoscopy division delivered solid organic growth, underlining how products such as aScope 5 Broncho are contributing more to group sales. FinanzNachrichten’ coverage of Ambu’s recent results points to endoscopy as a growth engine.

From a capital markets angle, the disposable endoscopy trend is visible in broader industry forecasts. Market research published by Global Market Insights estimates that the global disposable endoscopes market was around $2.2 billion in 2025 and could grow at an annual rate of more than 15 percent through the next decade, driven by infection-prevention priorities and workflow advantages in hospitals. If that trajectory holds, companies with established single-use portfolios, including Ambu in bronchoscopy and other specialties, stand to benefit from rising procedure volumes shifting toward disposable solutions. Global Market Insights projects strong growth for the disposable endoscopes market.

Ambu is based in Denmark and reports in Danish kroner, but its shares are widely followed across European healthcare and medtech investors. Shares of Ambu (ISIN DK0060946788) most recently traded on Nasdaq Copenhagen, reflecting investor expectations around its ability to scale single-use endoscopy lines like aScope 5 Broncho in the face of intensifying competition from both established endoscope makers and newer disposable-focused entrants.

Ambu aScope 5 Broncho in brief: the key specs

• Product: Ambu aScope 5 Broncho
• Manufacturer: Ambu A/S
• Category: New Release/Launch - single-use bronchoscope
• Launch date: 2022 (initial market introduction)
• MSRP / Price: Not publicly disclosed; typically purchased via hospital contracts
• Availability: Hospital and clinical customers in multiple regions via Ambu’s sales channels
• Target audience: Pulmonologists, anesthesiologists and ICU physicians needing flexible bronchoscopy with disposable scopes
• Key differentiator / USP: High-performance single-use bronchoscopy paired with Ambu’s aBox 2 visualization platform to reduce infection risk and reprocessing logistics

This article was a.i.-assisted and editorially reviewed. Product information without warranty; prices and availability may change at short notice. Not investment advice and not a buy or sell recommendation. Trading involves risk up to and including the total loss of invested capital.