title: An outbreak of surgical site infections following craniotomy procedures associated with a change in the ultrasonic surgical aspirator decontamination process.
abstract: We investigated an outbreak of surgical site infections that occurred in a tertiary care hospital in Quebec, Canada. This investigation revealed that a change in the sterilization process of the ultrasonic surgical aspirator may have caused this outbreak. It emphasizes the fact that the complex designs of surgical power tools may restrict access to cleaning and sterilization agents. Health care professionals should review manufacturers' assembly/disassembly instructions and sterilization/decontamination procedures before use of such tools.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sheitoyan-Pesant
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Alarie
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Iorio-Morin
authors.affiliation: Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mathieu
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Electronic address: Alex.Carignan@USherbrooke.ca.
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Carignan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006801:Humans; D011792:Quebec / Q000453:epidemiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013242:Sterilization / Q000379:methods*; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology*; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Neurosurgery; Sterilization; Surgical power tool