Olympus Corp. said Tuesday it will voluntarily recall about 4,150 endoscopes mostly sold in the United States and Europe due to risks of infection or malfunction.
The company said it will withdraw about 3,900 units of the "BF-Q180" for examining bronchial tubes, which were sold in the United States and Europe between April 2005 and March 2019, as it has seen a "higher rate of patient infections" than comparable products.
But no serious health problems caused by the use of the products have been reported, a company spokesman said.
Olympus will also retrieve about 250 units of the "CHF-CB30S" endoscope for examining biliary tracts. Most of them were sold in the United States, Europe and Japan between April 1998 and March 2020.
The company said there is a possibility that equipment parts might come off and remain in a patient's body. In one case surgery was required to remove a tiny rubber part that came off and was left in a patient's biliary tract, the company said.
Olympus said it has already confirmed all the medical institutions that bought the products and will recall them after sending notification.
The company will book a loss of about ¥5 billion ($47 million) related to the recall.