Surgical Helmet System hoods in joint arthroplasty may not completely sterile after it has been applied: study

Key findings of the study were:

• There was no significant difference in contamination rates between the two techniques (3% vs. 2%, P=0.99) or between right and left glove contamination rates.

• Immediately after donning, 6/50 (12%) of SHS hoods cultured an organism.

• Contamination rates at both the face shield and neckline zones were equivalent.

• The majority of bacteria cultured were Bacillus species.

The authors concluded that – “We found no statistically significant difference between the bacterial contamination rates of the operating surgeon’s gloves using two common techniques of SHS hood application. These trials were performed under laminar airflow with late fan activation. We advise that extreme care should be exercised when the operating surgeon assists donning a surgical colleague to negate the risk of inadvertent contamination. Importantly, based on our results, the SHS hood should not be presumed to be completely sterile after it has been applied and we recommend against adjusting it intraoperatively. Further studies examining the clinical significance of these results are warranted. Research comparing different donning techniques using different brands of gloves and sterile hoods may further enlighten this area.”

Further reading:

Surgical helmet systems in total joint arthroplasty: assessment of hood sterility and donning technique

McAleese et al

Arthroplasty (2023) 5:53

https://doi.org/10.1186/s42836-023-00212-4