Evaluation of a pulsed xenon ultraviolet disinfection system to decrease bacterial contamination in operating rooms

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Abstract

Background: Environmental cleanliness is one of the contributing factors for surgical site infections in the operating rooms (ORs). To decrease environmental contamination, pulsed xenon ultraviolet (PX-UV), an easy and safe no-touch disinfection system, is employed in several hospital environments. The positive effect of this technology on environmental decontamination has been observed in patient rooms and ORs during the end-of-day cleaning but so far, no study explored its feasibility between surgical cases in the OR. Methods: In this study, 5 high-touch surfaces in 30 ORs were sampled after manual cleaning and after PX-UV intervention mimicking between-case cleaning to avoid the disruption of the ORs' normal flow. The efficacy of a 1-min, 2-min, and 8-min cycle were tested by measuring the surfaces' contaminants by quantitative cultures using Tryptic Soy Agar contact plates. Results: We showed that combining standard between-case manual cleaning of surfaces with a 2-min cycle of disinfection using a portable xenon pulsed ultraviolet light germicidal device eliminated at least 70% more bacterial load after manual cleaning. Conclusions: This study showed the proof of efficacy of a 2-min cycle of PX-UV in ORs in eliminating bacterial contaminants. This method will allow a short time for room turnover and a potential reduction of pathogen transmission to patients and possibly surgical site infections.

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El Haddad, L., Ghantoji, S. S., Stibich, M., Fleming, J. B., Segal, C., Ware, K. M., & Chemaly, R. F. (2017). Evaluation of a pulsed xenon ultraviolet disinfection system to decrease bacterial contamination in operating rooms. BMC Infectious Diseases, 17(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-017-2792-z

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