<![CDATA[<B>Reuse of cardiac catheters</B>: <B>a review</B>]]>

Abstract

Hemodynamic catheters are widely reused mainly in developing countries where the cost of new devices is very high. Scientific publications point to an absence of validated cleaning and sterilization processes and there is a consensus that reusing these devices causes physical, chemical and functional damage. So what is the evidence related to the reuse of this kind of catheter? The objective of this study is to identify scientific evidence related to the effects of reprocessing. A search for publications in English, Portuguese and Spanish was performed in Medline/Pubmed and LILACS using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms and free terms without stipulating restraints on time. In total 21 papers were analyzed. It was found that there is commonly damage to the surface polymers as identified by electronic microscopy. Failure in the cleaning and sterilization processes was identified by the presence of debris and microorganisms at the end of the procedure. The results of this study are very important when choosing to reuse hemodynamic catheters.

Carga de trabalho em Centro de Material e Esterilização

“…Os estudos desenvolvidos na área de CME centram-se principalmente no processo de trabalho do enfermeiro MÉIER, 2007;TAUBE et al, 2008;BARTOLOMEI;LACERDA, 2006); na invisibilidade do CME (MACHADO; GELBCKE, 2009; SILVA; AGUIAR, 2008) e em especificidades técnicas dos produtos para saúde ali esterilizados (LOPES et al, 2011;CIUCCIO et al 2010;RIBEIRO et al, 2006).…”

The sterilization efficacy of reprocessed single use diathermy pencils

“…The authors demonstrated that once the reuse is carried out following the best procedures, the costs are considerable, and can even be high if the risk of adverse events is increased by the number of times any device is reused (4) . Although costs were analyzed, there are no conclusive studies regarding sterilization safety in the practice of reusing single use medical devices (5)(6)(7) .…”