Filthy surgical instruments: a threat in America's operating rooms (2014)

Re:Filthy surgical instruments: a threat in America's operat... by throwaway911411 on Saturday August 31, 2019 @09:07PM (#20849873)

For neurosurgery, when operating on a patient with suspected prion disease, the surgery will be done with disposable instruments as much as possible. This may mean however that the surgeon will have to use a hand drill, instead of a power drill.

For the other cases without prions, normal sterilization works. And you don’t want to throw away all your equipment after each surgery. A neurosurgical power drill can cost around $20,000 - $40,000

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Filthy surgical instruments: a threat in America's operat... by Mtinie on Saturday August 31, 2019 @11:17PM (#20850310)

Presumably picked up by someone’s insurance plan, or a “not my problem” situation for the attending surgeon.

Sub-sanitized instruments should not be a possibility given our current understanding of infections and their root causes.

In my case, I’d rather have one less test to confirm something, if it means I get to have my surgical implements experience one more run through the UV sterilizer or the autoclave before they are used on me. Better yet, why not use a whole new set of virgin tools following a time-proven blueprint?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Filthy surgical instruments: a threat in America's operat... by pnutjam on Sunday September 01, 2019 @01:43PM (#20853535)

They don't have to be designed with motors and such accessible to contamination.

[ Parent | on HN ]