From patent to product? 50 years of low‐pressure plasma sterilization

Abstract

The development of new sterilization methods is still a major topic. The need for new techniques arises from the development of new instruments and the usage of different materials. Especially in the case of plastics with their beneficial properties, for example, in the field of implantology, plasma sterilization is seen as a promising alternative to the standard methods. However, 50 years after the first patent and although low‐pressure plasmas show excellent inactivation performance (>log 6 reduction), only one commercial system is available on the market for a distinct application. We will give a short review about known plasma sterilization mechanisms, the different plasma sterilization systems in use, analyze possible challenges for an industrial process and comment on possible solutions for a broader acceptance and utilization of low‐pressure plasma sterilization.

Plasma Medicine: A Field of Applied Redox Biology

“…Basically, medical application of physical plasma comprises two principal approaches: i) use of plasma-based or plasmasupplemented techniques to treat surfaces, materials or devices to realize specific qualities for subsequent special medical applications, and ii) direct application of physical plasma on or in the human (or animal) body to apply therapeutic effects based on direct interaction of plasma with living tissue. Plasma application for the treatment of medical materials or devices is an important subject of research and has been utilized for several years now (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8). However, the core area of plasma medicine -as a new field of researchfocuses on the use of plasma technology in direct treatment of living cells and tissues.…”

State of the art in nonthermal plasma processing for biomedical applications: Can it help fight viral pandemics like COVID‐19?

“…Nonthermal cold plasma‐based decontamination method does not suffer from the above issues, and, therefore, has emerged as a comparatively environment‐friendly and inexpensive alternative. [ 20,162 ] Sterility, in particular for MDs, is defined in terms of a sterility assurance level (SAL), which is the probability of finding one single nonsterile MD in a batch of 1 million similar devices subjected to the sterilization process. In terms of operational requirements, it is reflected in a reduction of (at least) 6‐log 10 in the number of the most resistant microorganisms with a first‐order kinetics.…”

Gas Plasma Technology—An Asset to Healthcare During Viral Pandemics Such as the COVID-19 Crisis?

“…Even if for these efforts in many cases, the term “plasma sterilization” was claimed, a real plasma-based sterilization process or device that meets the requirements of sterility assurance is not available yet [30] . Even if, because of several practical and regulatory reasons, gas plasma processes might be not suitable to replace or equally complement classical sterilization processes, there is an enormous potential to use gas plasma processes for specific decontamination purposes in hygiene and medicine where conventional measures based on heat, radiation, or toxic chemicals are not effective or not applicable [31] – [38] .…”