Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC.
Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology, University of North Carolina Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC; Division of Infectious Diseases, UNC School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, NC; Infection Prevention, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, NC.
Am J Infect Control. 2023 Nov;51(11S):A82-A95. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2023.01.020.
To prevent healthcare-associated infections, it is essential that critical medical devices be sterilized before use. Although there are several sterilization technologies for medical devices, only ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilization has virtually universal material compatibility.
We searched the published English literature (Google, Google scholar and PubMed) for articles on the sterilization of medical devices by ethylene oxide, the consequences of ETO closures, and alternative sterilization technologies/solutions.
ETO's compatibility and effectiveness with medical products allows for sterilization of many medical devices that would otherwise be rendered ineffective or unsafe if sterilized with an alternative method.
At present, there are no alternatives to ETO that provide the same sterility assurance and result in the same device performance as ETO; therefore, it is likely irreplaceable for years.
为了预防医源性感染，在使用之前对关键医疗器械进行消毒至关重要。尽管医疗器械有几种消毒技术，但只有环氧乙烷（ETO）消毒具有几乎普遍的材料兼容性。
我们在已发表的英文文献（Google、Google Scholar 和 PubMed）中搜索了关于医疗器械的环氧乙烷消毒、ETO 封盖的后果以及替代消毒技术/解决方案的文章。
ETO 与医疗产品的兼容性和有效性允许对许多医疗器械进行消毒，如果使用替代方法，这些医疗器械否则将无效或不安全。
目前，没有与 ETO 相同的替代品，能提供相同的无菌保证并产生与 ETO 相同的设备性能；因此，它可能在未来几年内不可替代。
