Impact of water quality on reprocessing equipment: Assessment of neurosurgical instruments cleaning and biofilm formation in hospital pipes

The presence of contamination and microorganisms at any stage of processing renders a method unsafe, leading to a high risk of cross-transmission and cross-infection. The objective of this study was to assess the cleaning quality of aspirator instruments used in neurosurgical procedures. The experimental study was conducted at the materials and sterilization center, as well as the microbiology laboratory, of a philanthropic hospital in Brazil. A study protocol was implemented, which involved the analysis of 10 samples of Yasargil aspirators with varying dimensions. The samples were subjected to protein tests to detect the presence of organic matter and microbiological analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that 40% of the instruments tested positive for protein after manual cleaning. Furthermore, after automated cleaning, samples showed an increased microbiological load, with Escherichia coli accounting for 20% and Klebsiella aerogenes for 10% of the identified microorganisms. This study provides evidence of failures in the cleaning process of healthcare products and highlights the presence of biofilm in the pipes, thereby compromising the drinking water quality standard.