Efficiency in endotoxin removal by a reprocessing protocol for electrophysiology catheters based on hydrogen peroxide plasma sterilization
- Tessarolo, Francesco
- Nollo, Giandomenico
- Caola, Iole
- Antolini, Renzo
- Guarrera, Giovanni M
- Caciagli, Patrizio
DOIAbstract
Electrophysiology and ablation cardiac catheters, which come in contact with blood during clinical use, are required to be non-pyrogenic (<20 endotoxin units (EU)/device). This study aimed to quantify the residual endotoxin load in reprocessed devices as a mandatory step to guarantee safe reuse. We monitored the pyrogenic status of the device (n=61) in three fundamental steps of the reprocessing protocol: after clinical use, after decontamination-cleaning treatments and after complete reprocessing, including sterilization by hydrogen peroxide gas plasma. Finally, a depyrogenation test was produced for evaluating the depyrogenation efficiency of the sole hydrogen peroxide sterilization treatment. Results showed that standard clinical use did...
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