ECO 6 Digital Color Doppler Ultrasound System
122
Returning/Shipping Probes and Repair Parts
Transportation dept. and our policy require that equipment returned for service MUST be clean and free of
blood and other infectious substances.
When you return a probe or part for service, you need to clean and disinfect the probe or part prior to packing
and shipping the equipment.
Ensure that you follow probe cleaning and disinfection instructions provided in this Manual.
This ensures that employees in the transportation industry as well as the people who receive the package are
protected from any risk.
AIUM outlines cleaning the endocavitary transducer:
Guidelines for Cleaning and Preparing Endocavitary Ultrasound Transducers between Patients from AIUM
Approved June 4, 2003
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance regarding the cleaning and disinfection of transvaginal
and transrectal ultrasound probes.
All sterilization/disinfection represents a statistical reduction in the number of microbes present on a surface.
Meticulous cleaning of the instrument is the essential icon to an initial reduction of the microbial/organic load
by at least 99%. This cleaning is followed by a disinfecting procedure to ensure a high degree of protection
from infectious disease transmission, even if a disposable barrier covers the instrument during use.
Medical instruments fall into different categories with respect to potential for infection transmission. The most
critical level of instruments are those that are intended to penetrate skin or mucous membranes. These require
sterilization. Less critical instruments (often called "semi-critical" instruments) that simply come into contact
with mucous membranes such as fiber optic endoscopes require high-level disinfection rather than sterilization.
Although endocavitary ultrasound probes might be considered even less critical instruments because they are
routinely protected by single use disposable probe covers, leakage rates of 0.9% - 2% for condoms and
8%-81% for commercial probe covers have been observed in recent studies. For maximum safety, one should
therefore perform high-level disinfection of the probe between each use and use a probe cover or condom as an
aid in keeping the probe clean.
There are four generally recognized categories of disinfection and sterilization. Sterilization is the complete
elimination of all forms or microbial life including spores and viruses.
Disinfection
, the selective removal of microbial life, is divided into three classes:
High-Level Disinfection
- Destruction/removal of all microorganisms except bacterial spores.
Mid-Level Disinfection
- Inactivation of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, bacteria, most viruses, fungi, and
some bacterial spores.
Low-Level Disinfection
- Destruction of most bacteria, some viruses and some fungi. Low-level disinfection
will not necessarily inactivate Mycobacterium Tuberculosis or bacterial spores.
The following specific recommendations are made for the use of Endocavitary ultrasound transducers. Users
WWW.CFS.IT - CFS PRODOTTI MEDICALI SRL
