Author(s)
Uche C. Ezeh, M.S.1
Efstratios Achlatis, M.D. 1
Tyler Crosby, M.D. 1
Paul E. Kwak, M.D. 1
Michael S. Phillips, M.D. 2
Milan R. Amin, M.D. 1
Affiliation(s)
1 NYU Langone Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery2 NYU Langone Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Medicine;
Abstract:
Objective:
To compare the effectiveness of disinfection protocols utilizing a UV Smart D60 light system with Impelux™ technology with a standard Cidex ortho-phthalaldehyde (OPA) disinfection protocol for cleaning flexible fiberoptic laryngoscopes (FFLs).
Methods:
Two-hundred FFLs were sampled for bacterial contamination after routine use, and another 200 were sampled after disinfection with one of the four
Methods: enzymatic solution plus Cidex OPA (standard), enzymatic solution plus UV Smart D60, microfiber cloth plus UV Smart D60, and nonsterile wipe plus UV Smart D60. Using Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and pairwise comparisons with a Dunn test, we compared pre- and post-disinfection bioburden levels. Additionally, we used Fisher's 2-sided exact test to compare positive culture rates.
Results:
Approximately 56% (112/200) of FFLs were contaminated post-use with a mean contamination level of 9,973.7 ± 70,136.3 CFU/mL. The standard reprocessing method yielded no positive cultures, whereas enzymatic plus UV, microfiber plus UV, and nonsterile wipe plus UV yielded contamination rates of 4% (2/50), 6% (3/50), and 12% (6/50), respectively, with no significant difference between treatment groups (p>0.05). Bioburden levels significantly decreased after each disinfection technique (p<0.001). The average bioburden recovered after enzymatic plus UV, microfiber plus UV, and nonsterile wipe plus UV were 0.40 CFU/mL ± 2, 0.60 CFU/mL ± 2.4, and 12.2 CFU/mL ± 69.5, respectively, with no significant difference between treatment groups (p>0.05). Micrococcus species (53.8%) were most frequently isolated, and no high-concern organisms were recovered.
Conclusions:
Disinfection protocols utilizing UV Smart D60 were as effective as the standard chemical disinfection protocol using Cidex OPA.