Effectiveness of drying in digestive endoscope reprocessing: Systematic review on residual droplets and microorganisms.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Despite endoscope reprocessing, residual droplets remain in digestive endoscope working channels. Inadequate drying of digestive endoscope working channels may promote microbial reproduction, increasing risk of infection among patients. This review was designed to summarize the current status of digestive endoscope and assess effectiveness of drying methods in preventing residual droplets and microorganisms in digestive endoscope.

METHODS

PubMed, Web of Science, and EMBASE up until 2025 were searched to identify eligible articles focused on methods of digestive endoscope drying and the status of endoscope drying. The revised JBI quality assessment tool was used to determine the quality of each included article by two independent reviewers.

RESULTS

This review included 16 articles; six focused on residual droplets, six evaluated microbial growth, and four assessed both residual droplets and microbial growth following different digestive endoscope drying methods. Compared to the single drying method, the combination of novel automated drying techniques and guideline-recommended conventional drying methods reported lower levels of residual fluid and microbial growth in endoscope channels.

CONCLUSIONS

Automated drying, particularly with drying cabinets, reduces residual moisture and microbial contamination on digestive endoscopes more effectively than manual drying, warranting its inclusion in standard reprocessing protocols.