The effect of mechanical cleaning and thermal disinfection on light intensity provided by fibrelight Macintosh laryngoscopes.

The increased use of thermal decontamination procedures for fibrelight laryngoscope blades, to comply with international guidelines, will have considerable economical effects. We evaluated the effect of mechanical cleaning plus thermal disinfection at 90 degrees C, with or without subsequent steam sterilisation at 134 degrees C, on light intensity provided by fibrelight laryngoscopes. After mounting the blades in a special frame with a built-in light source, light intensity was measured using radiometer/photometer. In total, 14 blades provided by 11 companies were tested. The majority of fibrelight laryngoscope blades were fairly resistant to the damaging effects of machine washing plus disinfection at 90 degrees C (mean [range] reduction in light intensity 34.6%[2.1-78.3%]). However, when exposed to an additional sterilisation procedure at 134 degrees C, the majority of blades were unable to withstand the combined treatment for 300 cycles (mean [range] reduction in light intensity 86.5%[32.0-98.7%]). This study stresses the need for fibrelight laryngoscope blades which are more resistant to thermal decontamination procedures than those available at present.