Over 100M Procedures Performed with Nanosonics’ trophon Devices Across North America Since 2011 Protecting Patients from Ultrasound Probe Cross-Contamination
INDIANAPOLIS, June. 7, 2022 – Nanosonics (ASX: NAN), a leader in infection prevention solutions, today announced that patients in North America have been protected from the risk of ultrasound probe cross-contamination in over 100 million trophon® high level disinfection (HLD) procedures.
“Our trophon* technology has become the standard of care in North America for ultrasound probe infection control, evidenced by over 25,000 installations and partnerships with more than 5,000 health care facilities who trust us for their infection prevention,” said Ken Shaw, President of the Americas for Nanosonics. “To date, more than 100 million trophon procedures have been performed in North America, and we believe this number will grow substantially, as there are still millions of procedures performed without the protection of trophon technology. Use of trophon HLD is fast gaining adoption globally due to data demonstrating its efficacy and real-life experience protecting more than 82,000 patients daily from risks of ultrasound probe cross-contamination.”
The environment is also a beneficiary of trophon technology, as the by-products of each disinfection cycle are environmentally friendly oxygen and water. The trophon device may prevent the disposal of thousands of gallons of water and soaking chemicals into the environment each year compared to traditional decontamination methods.
“While there have been great strides in ultrasound infection prevention, there is still a significant amount of work to do in terms of widespread adoption of appropriate ultrasound cleaning and disinfection practices. Planning and implementation of infection prevention strategies serve to effectively break the chain of pathogen transmission and, ultimately, infection associated with use of a reusable medical device,” said Ruth Carrico, Ph.D., Executive Director, Norton Infectious Diseases Institute.
“Studies demonstrate ultrasound probes can be contaminated following patient use,[1],[2] and almost 50% of ultrasound probes in both emergency and ICU settings can be contaminated even when they appear visibly clean,”[3] continued Dr. Carrico. “Moreover, after low level disinfection, ultrasound probes can be contaminated with virus and bacteria, including human papillomavirus and Chlamydia Trachomatis, which may then be transmitted to a subsequent patient.1,[4],[5] These situations exemplify the critical need for proper ultrasound infection prevention to ensure safe and exceptional patient care and protection.”
The trophon device helps reduce the risk of ultrasound probe-related cross-infection, offering effective bactericidal, fungicidal, virucidal and mycobactericidal protection,# while ensuring that HLD is performed accurately and consistently. trophon technology is able to eliminate an extended range of clinically relevant pathogens, including multi-drug resistant bacteria, blood-borne viruses, and sexually transmitted pathogens.# trophon technology delivers HLD to meet accreditation requirements and support best practice patient care.
Furthermore, the recently launched Nanosonics AuditPro™ offers infection preventionists and quality managers an opportunity to improve and standardize ultrasound probe infection control compliance to support the management of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) risk. The mobile application is designed to be used at the ultrasound console, seamlessly providing best practice infection control education as part of the clinical workflow, and standardizing infection control practices to meet accreditation requirements.
“Nanosonics’ solid momentum in North America underscores the growing demand for our comprehensive HLD and workflow management solutions, enabling infection preventionists and caregivers the ability to consistently support optimal patient care and standardize infection control compliance,” said Shaw.
In related news, Nanosonics will host a symposium titled, “Strategies to Inform Device Reprocessing Policy Toward Patient Safety” at the annual meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) in Indianapolis, on June 13. The company will also showcase its suite of infection prevention solutions at the meeting, June 13-15 in booth #1456.
About Nanosonics
Nanosonics (ASX:NAN) is a leading medical technology company headquartered in Sydney, Australia, with its North American operations based in Indianapolis. Founded in 2001, the company is one of Australia’s largest medical technology companies and a recognized leader in its sector of the global infection control market. For more information, visit www.nanosonics.us.
*The trophon® family includes trophon® EPR and trophon®2 devices which share the same core technology of 'sonically activated' hydrogen peroxide.
#Internal testing according to guidelines from FDA (Reprocessing Medical Devices in Health Care Settings : Validation Methods and Labelling ,2015) and AAMI(TIR30:2011. A compendium of processes, materials, test methods and acceptance criteria for cleaning reusable medical devices).
[1] Buescher, D. L., et al. (2016). Disinfection of transvaginal ultrasound probes in a clinical setting: comparative performance of automated and manual reprocessing methods. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 47(5): 646-651.
[2] Oide, S., et al. (2019). Incidence of residual bacterial contamination of transvaginal ultrasound probes. J Med Ultrason 46(4): 475-479.
[3] Keys, M., et al. (2015). Efforts to Attenuate the Spread of Infection (EASI): a prospective, observational multicentre survey of ultrasound equipment in Australian emergency departments and intensive care units. Crit Care Resusc 17(1): 43-46
[4] Leroy S, et al. J Hosp Infect 2013;83(2): 99-106.
[5] M'Zali, F., et al. 2014. PLoS One 9(4): e93368
