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Published on: January 22, 2013
Optimization of Air Application Duration for Biopsy Channel Drying during Endoscope Reprocessing: A Prospective Study
Kai Xuan1, Runshan Duan2, Youjian Zhang1
1Department of Hospital Infection Management, Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou University People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, Henan, China.
Objective:
To explore how different compressed air application durations influence biopsy channel drying of flexible endoscopes via borescope visualization, and determine the optimal drying parameters for hospital endoscope reprocessing workstations.
Methods:
Seventy-six flexible endoscopes were randomly allocated into four equal groups receiving 35 s, 40 s, 45 s and 50 s of air application at 0.25 MPa air pressure. A 30 s air application group following national Chinese guidelines was set as baseline. We used a borescope to observe residual droplets inside biopsy channels and quantified drying quality with a self-developed Drying Defect Weighted Score (DDWS), where lower scores represent superior dryness.
Results:
The 30 s baseline group presented massive residual droplets, with a median DDWS of 430 and 0% complete drying rate, failing to reach qualified drying. DDWS decreased markedly with prolonged air application (Z=-9.218, P<0.001). The 45 s group (median DDWS=0) achieved significantly better drying than the 40 s group (median DDWS=29, P=0.001), while no difference existed between the 45 s and 50 s groups (median DDWS=0, P=1.000). ATP bioluminescence detection showed all endoscopes in 45 s and 50 s groups met the <200 RLU standard, with 100% passing rate and no intergroup discrepancy (P=0.243).
Conclusion:
Borescopic objective evaluation indicates that the air application time of workstation under 0.25 MPa pressure should be no less than 45 s to obtain satisfactory biopsy channel drying efficacy.
