Twelve minutes at 50°C: the recipe for fully dry, reprocessed endoscopes.
Li Xian-Huang, Liu Hai-Xia, Huang Zi-Yi, et al.
Testing 200 combinations of drying time and temperature on gastroscopes and colonoscopes, researchers found that 12 minutes of drying achieved complete elimination of residual moisture, and warming the air to 50°C cleared droplets faster than 30°C, especially within the first 30 seconds. The findings offer concrete, evidence-based parameters that endoscopy units can use to standardize the drying step of their reprocessing protocols.
- The question: What time and temperature actually dry a flexible endoscope completely?
- The study: Researchers tested 200 combinations of drying time and temperature on gastroscopes and colonoscopes.
- The finding: Twelve minutes of drying achieved complete elimination of residual moisture.
- The nuance: Warming the air to 50 degrees Celsius cleared droplets faster than 30 degrees, especially within the first 30 seconds.
Takeaway: these are concrete, evidence-based parameters endoscopy units can adopt to standardize the drying step of reprocessing.
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