THE EFFICACY OF LOW-TEMPERATURE PLASMA (LTP) STERILIZATION, A NEW STERILIZATION TECHNIQUE

The efficacy of low temperature plasma (LTP) sterilization, a newly de veloped sterilization procedure was tested. Following experiments were carried out: Determination of the most resistant test organism, influ ence of 10% and 20% defibrinated sheep blood or varying salt concentra tions on the efficacy of the sterilization process, influence of the c arrier position in the sterilization chamber and in the sterilization pouches, influence of a loaded sterilization chamber, comparative effi cacy of EO and LTP, steel carriers with a blood burden of 0%, 5% and 1 0%, comparative efficacy of EO and LTP, strip carriers in endoscopes, blood burden 0% and 10%, with and without adaptors, evaluation of two bioindicator models. B. pumilus was the test spore that overall seemed to be most resistant to the sterilization procedure. Supplementation of the test suspension with blood or saline crystals resulted in signi ficantly reduced efficacy and has to be avoided in practical operation . The fully loaded sterilization chamber or the position of germ carri ers on the shelves had no negative influence on the effectivity of the sterilization process. There were no significant differences between EO and LTP, the blood burden not exceeding 5%. 10% blood burden result ed in a significantly weaker action of LTP. For sterilization of long lumens adaptors containing hydrogen peroxide are necessary. An appropr iate bioindicator tube model is introduced.