Disinfection of transvaginal ultrasound probes in a clinical setting: comparative performance of automated and manual reprocessing methods

Abstract

Objectives

The importance of infection prevention and control in medical ultrasound

“…Handle contamination decreased to background levels after disinfection with an automated system designed for simultaneous disinfection of the probe handle and body 16 . Others have reported similar figures (83% when the handle is not disinfected) 11 . The ultrasound transducer handle must therefore be considered a reservoir for microbial contaminants and a potential source of cross‐infection.…”

“…The study found the probes were contaminated with bacteria and virus and the pooled prevalence of infected patients after a procedure was estimated to be 3.1% 10 . A German study reported that 21% of ultrasound probe bodies remained contaminated after disinfection with low‐level disinfectant wipes containing quaternary ammonium compounds 11 . There have also been reports of Doppler probes contaminated with skin flora, potentially pathogenic coliforms and diphtheroids as well as nosocomial staphylococci (coagulase negative and methicillin sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA)) 12 , 13 .…”

Virucidal efficacy of a sonicated hydrogen peroxide system (trophon ® EPR) following European and German test methods

“…Data are available that automated devices can reduce contamination of intracavity ultrasound probes to background levels [5]. One study showed that the automated device could reduce contamination with a success rate of 91.4% while a manual wipe method showed greater contamination (success rate of 78.8%) based on a study measuring bacterial contamination rates [12]. When asking sonographers about high-level disinfection with the automated device and glutaral-based soak systems, a higher level of satisfaction was reported for the automated system [22].…”

“…Disinfection methods presumably vary in many countries ranging from manual disinfection methods with impregnated wipes using quaternary ammonium compounds (QAC) to automated methods [12]. Recently, an automated sonicated hydrogen peroxide device (trophon ® EPR) has demonstrated its efficacy against native HPV16 and HPV18 virions [13].…”

DEGUM Recommendations on Infection Prevention in Ultrasound and Endoscopic Ultrasound

“…FA ZIT: Für die Desinfektion von starren Endosonografiesonden kommen unterschiedliche Verfahren zur Anwendung: Behandlung mit viruziden Wischtüchern [117,118], Wischtücher plus Schaumanwendung [105], Tauchdesinfektionsverfahren [117,119], ein vollautomatisches Desinfektionssystem mit Wasserstoffperoxid-Aerosol [107,109,120,121] oder Verfahren, bei denen eine UV-C-Bestrahlung eingesetzt wird [122,123]. Während bei der alleinigen Anwendung von Wischtüchern zwar die meisten Bakterien, aber nicht immer auch alle Viren und keine bakteriellen Sporen abgetötet werden, werden mit den anderen Verfahren alle Mikroorganismen, z. T. inkl.…”