Research presented at Digestive Disease Week 2016 in San Diego showed that double reprocessing of duendoscopes reduces the rate of infections related to duodenoscopes, according to a Medscape report.
The study examined double reprocessing protocol's effect on Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae infection associated with endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. The protocol involved two cycles of manual cleaning and automated reprocessing with a strong disinfectant. Each week over nine months, researchers cultured 10 to 20 duodenoscopes that had undergone the protocol.
Here are four insights:
1. Of the 610 duodenoscopes cultured during the study period, 59 were positive. But only five of those tested positive for potentially pathogenic organisms.
2. According to Ji Young Bang, MD, a third-year fellow in gastroenterology at Indiana University in Indianapolis and lead researcher, none of the cultures tested "positive for CRE, and no ERCP-associated infections have been identified since the implementation of this high-level disinfection protocol."
3. Since 2013, there have been a number of deadly CRE outbreaks associated with ERCP performed using tainted duodenoscopes in the United States.
4. The double reprocessing protocols appear to prevent duodenoscope-associated transmission of CRE, noted Dr. Bang.