Vol. XIII, No. 11Archive > November, 2012

Low-Temperature Sterilization: Are You In the Know?

Advice for reprocessing delicate items that can't stand the heat.

Dan O'Connor, Editor-in-Chief

— BACK IN PLAY Low-temperature sterilizers are workhorses of the sterile processing department for getting heat-sensitive instruments back to the OR.

For those complex surgical instruments that can't tolerate the high heat of steam sterilization, you have a growing number of low-temperature alternatives from which to choose. Cycle times is a key concern. Here's how your low-temperature sterilization options stack up by cycle time from shortest to longest:

 
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