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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- Currently, medical devices are sterilized through a 130-year-old technique, greatly reducing surgery-related infections. Researchers are developing a new sterilizing technique, able to disinfect advanced electronics that would be ruined by the current method.
Autoclave, the current technique, acts much like a pressure streamer, packing unsterile tools into sealed containers, processing them, and keeping them sealed and sterile until released. A new method being studied by researchers seals the devices within plastic bags, places them in low-pressure chambers, and uses an electromagnetic field to ignite plasma inside the bag to kill the bacteria. During this process, the bag shrinks to tightly wrap the tools and keep them sealed.
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Prior to this study, scientists were aware that plasma could kill bacteria and sterilize objects. Plasma was not used because there was no method of keeping plasma-sterilized objects in sealed containers after the sanitation. The new method places the tools in vacuum chambers at low pressure, which allows plasma to kill the germs while keeping the devices constantly sealed.
Researchers note that this method is still under testing, and is unlikely to replace the current technique in the near future.
SOURCE: Presented at a meeting of the scientific society AVS in San Jose, November 13, 2009
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