Abstract:
Introduction Postoperative infections represent a substantial burden to patients and healthcare systems. To improve patient care and reduce healthcare expenditures, interventions to reduce surgical infections must be employed. The crystalline C-band ultraviolet (UV-C) air filtration technology (Aerobiotix Inc., Miamisburg, OH, USA) has been designed to reduce airborne bioburden through high-quality filtration and germicidal irradiation. The purpose of this study was to assess the ability of a novel UV-C air filtration device to reduce airborne particle counts and contamination of surgical instrument trays in an operating room (OR) setting. Materials and methods Thirty sterile instrument trays were opened in a positive-air-flow OR. The trays were randomly assigned to one of two groups (UV-C or control, n=15 per group). In the UV-C group, the UV-C filtration device was used and in the control, it was not. All trays were opened with the use of a sterile technique and left exposed in the OR for four hours. Air was sampled by a particle counter to measure the numbers of 5µm and 10µm particles. Culture specimens were obtained from the trays to assess for bacterial contamination. Outcome data were collected at 30-minute intervals for the duration of the four-hour study period. Results Use of the UV-C device resulted in statistically significant reductions in the numbers of 5µm (average of 64.9% reduction when compared with the control, p<0.001) and 10µm (average of 65.7% reduction when compared with the control, p<0.001)-sized particles detectable in the OR. There was no significant difference in the overall rates of contamination (33.3% in the control group vs. 26.7% in the UV-C group, p=1.0) or the time to contamination (mean survival of 114 minutes in the control group vs. 105 minutes in the UV-C group, p=0.72) of surgical instrument trays with the use of the UV-C device. Conclusions The results demonstrate that the UV-C filtration device can successfully reduce airborne bioburden in standard ORs, suggesting that it may have the potential to reduce the risk for wound and hardware infections. Further clinical trials are necessary to better determine the effect of this air filtration system on postoperative infection rates.
摘要:
引言术后感染对患者和医疗保健系统来说是一个巨大的负担。为了改善患者护理并减少医疗保健支出,必须采取减少手术感染的干预措施。结晶C波段紫外线(UV-C)空气过滤技术(AerobiotixInc.,Miamisburg,OH,美国)的设计旨在通过高质量的过滤和杀菌辐照来减少空气中的生物负载。这项研究的目的是评估新型UV-C空气过滤装置在手术室(OR)环境中减少空气传播颗粒计数和手术器械托盘污染的能力。材料和方法在正气流OR中打开30个无菌仪器托盘。将托盘随机分配到两组(UV-C或对照,每组n=15)。在UV-C组中,使用UV-C过滤装置,事实并非如此。使用无菌技术打开所有托盘,并在OR中暴露4小时。通过颗粒计数器对空气进行采样以测量5μm和10μm颗粒的数量。从托盘获得培养样品以评估细菌污染。在4小时研究期间以30分钟的间隔收集结果数据。结果使用UV-C装置导致5μm的数量在统计学上显着减少(与对照相比,平均减少了64.9%,p<0.001)和10µm(与对照组相比平均减少65.7%,p<0.001)-在OR中可检测到的颗粒。总体污染率没有显着差异(对照组的33.3%与UV-C组为26.7%,p=1.0)或污染时间(对照组平均存活114分钟与UV-C组105分钟,使用UV-C装置的手术器械托盘的p=0.72)。结论结果表明,UV-C过滤装置可以成功地降低标准OR中的空气中生物负载,这表明它可能有可能降低伤口和硬件感染的风险。需要进一步的临床试验来更好地确定这种空气过滤系统对术后感染率的影响。