[Individual traceability to the instrument: Evolution of laser and micropercussion markings over the sterilisation...

In order to implement individual instrument traceability, the evolution of laser and micropercussion markings was evaluated over 250 sterilisation cycles. A datamatrix associated with its alphanumeric code was applied on three types of instruments by laser or micropercussion. All instruments had a unique identifier affixed by the manufacturer. The sterilisation cycles corresponded to the usual cycles performed in our sterilisation unit. The laser markings had very good visibility but were quickly affected by corrosion: 12% of the markings were corroded after the 5th sterilisation cycle. Similar results were observed for unique identifiers applied by the manufacturer but with visibility attenuated by sterilisation cycles: 33% of identifiers were poorly visible after the 125th sterilisation cycle. Finally, micropercussion markings were less susceptible to corrosion but initially showed poorer contrast.