Steam sterilisation of disposable surgical gowns does not compromise resistance to wet microbial penetration

Reuse of disposable medical products is common practice in veterinary medicine; however, studies on the safety of such reuse are often lacking. This study aimed to determine whether steam sterilisation of disposable surgical gowns compromises their resistance to wet microbial penetration.

Twenty surgical gowns were removed from their sterile packaging, manipulated, wetted, dried and subsequently repacked and steam sterilised. The protocol was performed once (groups A and C) or twice (groups B and D) for both spunbond/meltblown/meltblown/meltblown/spunbond (SMMMS) (groups A and B) and spunlace (groups C and D) fabric types. Wet microbial penetration tests, carried out according to the European Standard EN ISO 22610, were performed and the barrier index (I_B) was calculated to assess the performance requirements.

The mean I_B of the SMMMS fabric (groups A and B) and the spunlace fabric (groups C and D) were 3.496, 3.182, 3.206 and 3.490, respectively. The mean I_B for all groups was significantly greater than 2.8 (group A: p = 0.005; groups B, C and D: p < 0.001).

This was an experimental study with a small sample size, and only one of nine performance requirements specified in the relevant European standards was tested. Furthermore, no cleaning process was implemented, so the test results cannot be directly extrapolated to real-world clinical settings.

In terms of wet microbial penetration, as defined by European standards, disposable surgical gowns made of SMMMS or spunlace can be safely steam sterilised up to two times.