Effect of portable negative pressure units on expelled aerosols in the operating room environment.
Reg Anesth Pain Med
; 47(7): 426-429, 2022 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1774981
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
Spontaneously breathing patients undergoing procedures under regional anesthesia can expose operating room personnel to infectious agents. The use of localized negative pressure within proximity of a patient's airway is expected to reduce the amount of bioaerosols dispersed particularly for anesthesia staff who are frequently near the patient's airway.METHODS:
In the experiment, aerosols were produced using a polydisperse aerosol generator with nebulized saline. A portable negative pressure unit was set up at set distances of 10 cm and 30 cm with the aim of reducing aerosol particle counts detected by a laser-based particle counter.RESULTS:
Without the portable negative pressure unit, the median concentration of 0.5 µm aerosols detected was 3128 (1533, 22832) particles/ft3/min. With the portable negative pressure unit 10 cm and 30 cm from the site of aerosol emittance, the median concentration compared with background concentration was -0.5 (-8, 8) particles/ft3/min and 398 (89, 1749) particles/ft3/min, respectively.CONCLUSIONS:
For particle concentrations of 0.5 µm, 0.7 µm, and 1.0 µm a significant amount of aerosol reduction was observed (p<0.001). Further experiments are warranted to assess the safety of staff when encountering a potentially infectious patient in the operating room.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Operating Rooms
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Reg Anesth Pain Med
Journal subject:
Anesthesiology
/
Neurology
/
Psychophysiology
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Rapm-2022-103489
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