Olympus Medical

Our Mission

Our mission is to help enhance lives by delivering healthcare providers with quality technologies that exceed their expectations and allow them to advance their clinical delivery.

In every aspect of our work, from product development and social responsibility to our relationships with customers, partners, suppliers and employees, Olympus respects our connection to society. Our work is focused on contributing to humanity by helping people lead healthier lives through the development of innovative medical technologies and our steadfast commitment to quality. Every day, our work is guided by these three corporate principles:

• Philosophy: Our focus is on helping people around the world lead safer, healthier and more fulfilling lives because of our innovative technologies and services.
• Mission: Driven by the healthcare community’s quest for achieving clinical excellence and procedural efficiency while delivering peace of mind to their patients, we apply our knowledge and vision to create healthcare solutions that improve society.
• Values: We strive to exceed the expectations of our healthcare customers and help them to realize their vision for patient care by our steadfast commitment to quality and technological innovation.

Combating Cancer

As technology and the clinical applications of endoscopy expand, our innovations play an increasingly significant role in cancer prevention, detection and treatment.

In 1950, Olympus made history by introducing the world’s first gastrocamera. Developed in collaboration with a forward-thinking physician working at the University of Tokyo Medical Center, the gastrocamera was designed to be inserted into the human body to photograph and examine the interior of a patient’s stomach. This remarkable innovation—the precursor to today’s endoscopes—enabled physicians to detect stomach cancers much sooner, using a minimally invasive procedure instead of performing invasive open gastric surgery.

The launch and diagnostic success of the gastrocamera solidified Olympus’ role in developing less invasive and increasingly sophisticated technologies that would aid in the early detection and treatment of cancer. Now, more than 60 years later, Olympus’ renowned, minimally invasive medical technologies have continued to evolve with enhanced functionality and improved imaging to meet the needs of a broad array of medical specialties so that medical practitioners can better see and treat cancers and other diseases of the internal organs.

The role of endoscopes today

Endoscopic technologies serve a vital role in medicine today. Endoscopes are used in a wide range of clinical fields, including gastroenterology, urology, pulmonology, otolaryngology and gynecology to diagnose and deliver a wide range of therapies, including early cancer detection and treatment. Helping physicians around the globe fight cancer and improve the quality of life for their patients remains one of the driving principles behind Olympus’ innovations.

Minimally Invasive Procedure

Olympus develops clinically advanced, minimally invasive solutions for healthcare professionals that help improve outcomes and enhance quality of life for their patients.

A minimally invasive procedure is any procedure that is done in lieu of an open surgery with the same procedural goal. Unlike an open surgery, where the physician makes an incision to directly view and operate on the surgical site, a minimally invasive procedure uses a device, such as a laparoscope, gastroscope or colonoscope, which allows indirect observation of the target area on a viewing monitor. Generally, access to the target site is created through a small incision in the skin or via one of the body’s cavities or anatomical openings. Because of the less invasive approach to viewing or treating the target site, minimally invasive procedures can ease patient trauma, accelerate recovery times and enhance procedural efficiency.

As endoscopic technologies have advanced, their medical application has grown significantly. Today, many surgeries that used to require opening of the throat, chest, abdomen, pelvis or other areas of the body can now be performed endoscopically. For example, a polyp on the wall of the large intestine can be removed using a minimally invasive procedure called a polypectomy, made possible by the invention in 1969 of a special snare by Hiromi Shinya, a gastroenterologist, in collaboration with Olympus. Insertion of the polypectomy snare into an endoscope allows the physician to cut off and remove the polyp, guided by real-time video imaging captured at the tip of the endoscope and displayed on a monitor.

Focus on the Future

Today, the development of advanced, minimally invasive medical technologies continues to be the focus of our product innovation.

As in the past, our close collaboration with those in the healthcare community will both inform and guide our innovations of the future. We work with physicians each day, matching our capabilities in medical technology and precision manufacturing with their clinical skills to provide the best possible outcomes for patients and society. Our passion for helping people live healthier lives remains at the heart of who we are today.

Ever since our introduction of the first gastrocamera in 1950, our goal has been to deliver solutions that reduce patient trauma, improve procedural outcomes and enable physicians to push past the current boundaries of procedural technique. Our focus will remain on minimally invasive ways to combat cancer or diagnose and treat other disease of the body while striving to exceed the performance and quality expectations of our healthcare customers.