Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, School of Engineering Systems, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.
J Arthroplasty. 2018 May;33(5):1524-1529. doi: 10.1016/j.arth.2017.12.009. Epub 2017 Dec 14.
The role of space suits in the prevention of orthopedic prosthetic joint infection remains unclear. Recent evidence suggests that space suits may in fact contribute to increased infection rates, with bioaerosol emissions from space suits identified as a potential cause. This study aimed to compare the particle and microbiological emission rates (PER and MER) of space suits and standard surgical clothing.
A comparison of emission rates between space suits and standard surgical clothing was performed in a simulated surgical environment during 5 separate experiments. Particle counts were analyzed with 2 separate particle counters capable of detecting particles between 0.1 and 20 μm. An Andersen impactor was used to sample bacteria, with culture counts performed at 24 and 48 hours.
Four experiments consistently showed statistically significant increases in both PER and MER when space suits are used compared with standard surgical clothing. One experiment showed inconsistent results, with a trend toward increases in both PER and MER when space suits are used compared with standard surgical clothing.
Space suits cause increased PER and MER compared with standard surgical clothing. This finding provides mechanistic evidence to support the increased prosthetic joint infection rates observed in clinical studies.
太空服在预防骨科假体关节感染方面的作用仍不清楚。最近的证据表明，太空服实际上可能会导致感染率增加，太空服释放的生物气溶胶被认为是一个潜在的原因。本研究旨在比较太空服和标准手术服的颗粒和微生物排放率（PER 和 MER）。
在 5 个单独的实验中，在模拟手术环境中比较了太空服和标准手术服之间的排放率。使用 2 台能够检测 0.1 至 20 μm 之间颗粒的独立粒子计数器对颗粒计数进行了分析。使用安德森撞击器对细菌进行采样，在 24 和 48 小时进行培养计数。
四项实验一致表明，与标准手术服相比，使用太空服时 PER 和 MER 均有统计学意义上的显著增加。一项实验的结果不一致，与标准手术服相比，使用太空服时 PER 和 MER 均有增加的趋势。
与标准手术服相比，太空服会导致 PER 和 MER 增加。这一发现为临床研究中观察到的假体关节感染率增加提供了机制证据。
