UV-C Light-Based Decontamination of Transvaginal Ultrasound Transducer: An Effective and Fast Way for Patient Safety in Gynecology.

Background/

Objectives

Transvaginal ultrasound is one of the basic diagnostic methods used during gynecological examination. Lack of care during such an examination can lead to a risk of dangerous infection for both the patient and medical staff. Therefore, a crucial part of the preparation for the test is its proper disinfection. The aim of this study was to test the effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV-C) disinfection of ultrasound probes used in transvaginal examination for the prevention of infections in patients and healthcare personnel in ambulatory care settings.

Methods

The eradication of microorganisms present (as a microbiota or etiological factors of infections) in the female reproductive tract was tested. They were the following: Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus haemolyticus, Streptococcus agalactiae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Candida albicans, and Trichomonas vaginalis. The study consisted of contaminating the ultrasound transducer with microbial strains of known density, then performing disinfection and assessing the number of surviving microbial cells.

Results

Almost complete eradication of all tested pathogenic microorganisms was achieved, except T. vaginalis. But for this protozoa eradication of mobile forms reaches around 80%.

Conclusions

Although the sample size in our study was limited and statistical significance was not reached, the substantial logarithmic reduction strongly indicates the effectiveness of this method.