Recommendations for the Cleaning of Endocavity Ultrasound Transducers Between Patients

Ultrasound Med Biol. 2024 Jun;50(6):775-778. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2024.02.011. Epub 2024 Mar 14.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of infection prevention and control measures for all medical procedures, including ultrasound examinations. As the use of ultrasound increases across more medical modalities, including point-of-care ultrasound, so does the risk of possible transmission from equipment to patients and patients to patients. This is particularly relevant for endocavity transducers, such as trans-vaginal, trans-rectal and trans-oesophageal, which could be contaminated with organisms from blood, mucosal, genital or rectal secretions. This article proports to update the WFUMB 2017 guidelines which focussed on the cleaning and disinfection of trans-vaginal ultrasound transducers between patients.

Keywords: Endocavity transducer cleaning; Infection prevention; Ultrasound.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / prevention & control
  • COVID-19* / transmission
  • Disinfection* / methods
  • Equipment Contamination* / prevention & control
  • Humans
  • Infection Control / methods
  • Infection Control / standards
  • Point-of-Care Systems
  • Practice Guidelines as Topic
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Transducers*
  • Ultrasonography* / instrumentation
  • Ultrasonography* / methods