[Reuse of angiography catheters. I. Principles and problems of safe reuse]

Recycling and resterilisation of throwaway articles--in radiology especially of catheters used in angiography--has become widespread to save costs. Although extensive experimental work in this field is still lacking, criteria have been set up as guidelines to ensure safe recycling. These are subdivided into three parts: Cleaning--sterilisation--material testing. Experimental studies have been reported on sterilisation only proving the inadequacy of two ethylene oxide methods conventionally used in hospitals.