Methods of disinfecting endoscopic material: results of an international survey.

A questionnaire on the methods of cleaning and disinfecting endoscopic equipment was mailed to 120 centers in Western Europe. Seventy-four questionnaires (61%) were returned. The centers were classified into three groups according to the number of endoscopic procedures performed per year. This survey has shown that precautions are more rigid in specialized centers than in units doing fewer than 1,500 endoscopic investigations a year. Complete disinfection is done by almost all the centers after ERCP in infected patients or in the case of HBsAg and HIV-positive patients, but only by 70% of centers after completion of endoscopies performed in patients with gastrointestinal hemorrhage and unknown immunological status. After endoscopic examination performed in presumably non-infected subjects, complete disinfection is not done in any center after gastroscopy, in 13% after colonoscopy and in 30% after ERCP. Continued education of endoscopic personnel and greater availability of adequate endoscopic equipment is mandatory for minimizing the risk of endoscopy-related infections.