Zheng Wei, He Ying, Gui Ping, Sun Xiaoxue
Sterile Processing Department, Sichuan Clinical Research Center for Cancer, Sichuan Cancer Hospital &Institute, Sichuan Cancer Center, Affiliated Cancer Hospital of University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
Department of Nursing, Sichuan GEM Flower Hospital, North Sichuan Medical College, Chengdu, China.
PLoS One. 2025 Sep 10;20(9):e0331485. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0331485. eCollection 2025.
Luminal instruments are characterized by their slender internal lumens, which make them particularly challenging to clean and dry. A common drying method used by Sterile Processing Department (SPD) technicians involves blowing high-pressure air into one end of the lumen to expel moisture. However, this process generates a significant amount of aerosols that may contain bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms. These aerosols can increase the microbial load in the SPD environment, leading to secondary contamination of other medical devices and posing health risks to SPD staff. Current methods used in SPD to reduce aerosols, such as gauze pockets and perforated boxes, have shown limited effectiveness.
This study designed and fabricated a self-activating air filtration device, which primarily consists of four components: a centrifugal fan, a high-efficiency air filter, an acrylic box, and a diffuse reflective photoelectric switch. The total cost of the device is approximately $25. To verify the functionality of the device, we selected 20 sets of endoscopic instrument packs, 40 suction tubes, and 20 plastic hoses. The device's efficacy in reducing airborne dust particles and biological aerosols was evaluated, and a simple smoke test was conducted to assess its reliability.
Compared to results obtained without a HEPA filter, the self-activating air filtration device achieved a substantial reduction in airborne dust particles across various sizes: 79.34% for 0.3μm, 78.66% for 0.5μm, 76.58% for 1.0μm, 76.15% for 2.5μm, 72.55% for 5.0μm, and 75.00% for 10μm particles, with an average reduction of 76.36% (calculated using the median). No bacterial growth was observed on the ten culture plates sampled using the device, whereas five out of the ten culture plates sampled without the HEPA filter exhibited bacterial growth, resulting in a positivity rate of 50%. The differences were statistically significant. Additionally, the smoke test confirmed that the device effectively prevented contaminated air from escaping through the top opening of the acrylic box.
The self-activating air filtration device significantly reduces the aerosols generated during the drying of luminal instruments, thereby mitigating the risks that aerosols pose to both the environment and staff health. Its automatic on-off functionality and low cost of use and maintenance make it a valuable solution for aerosol control in SPD and other hospital settings.
腔镜器械的特点是其内部管腔细长，这使得清洁和干燥极具挑战性。无菌处理部门（SPD）技术人员常用的一种干燥方法是将高压空气吹入管腔一端以排出水分。然而，这个过程会产生大量可能含有细菌、病毒和其他微生物的气溶胶。这些气溶胶会增加SPD环境中的微生物负荷，导致其他医疗设备的二次污染，并对SPD工作人员构成健康风险。SPD目前用于减少气溶胶的方法，如纱布袋和穿孔盒，效果有限。
本研究设计并制造了一种自激活空气过滤装置，它主要由四个部件组成：离心风扇、高效空气过滤器、亚克力盒和漫反射光电开关。该装置的总成本约为25美元。为验证该装置的功能，我们选取了20套内窥镜器械包、40根吸引管和20根塑料软管。评估了该装置在减少空气中灰尘颗粒和生物气溶胶方面的功效，并进行了简单的烟雾测试以评估其可靠性。
与未使用高效空气过滤器时获得的数据相比，自激活空气过滤装置使各种尺寸的空气中灰尘颗粒大幅减少：0.3μm颗粒减少79.34%，0.5μm颗粒减少78.66%，1.0μm颗粒减少76.58%，2.5μm颗粒减少并76.15%，5.0μm颗粒减少72.55%，10μm颗粒减少75.00%，平均减少76.36%（使用中位数计算）。使用该装置采样的十个培养皿上未观察到细菌生长，而未使用高效空气过滤器采样的十个培养皿中有五个出现细菌生长，阳性率为50%。差异具有统计学意义。此外，烟雾测试证实该装置有效地防止了受污染的空气从亚克力盒顶部开口逸出。
自激活空气过滤装置显著减少了腔镜器械干燥过程中产生的气溶胶，从而降低了气溶胶对环境和工作人员健康造成的风险。其自动开关功能以及使用和维护成本低，使其成为SPD和其他医院环境中气溶胶控制的有价值解决方案。
