Sterilization for brachytherapy procedures

[Chris Alston <alstonc@odrge.odr.georgetown.edu>]

>Date:         Wed, 23 Feb 2000 12:52:48 -0500
>Reply-To: Sandy Gabriel <saloga@AOL.COM>

>1) Our hospital Infection Control and O.R. people have informed us that the
>State of N.J. is requiring them to discontinue autoclave use in the O.R.
>No sterilization services will be available in the O.R. suite, and we will
>need to rely on the hospital's S.P.D./central processing service.  Have any
>of you been confronted with this situation for sterilization of your
>radioactive seeds and Mick applicator for prostate seed implants?  Do you
>send a staff member with the seeds to assure radioactive materials security?
>How do you handle the need to resterilize during a case (i.e., after
>reloading seeds into a cartridge) or resterilization of the Mick applicator
>if 2 cases are done in a row?  I would particularly appreciate input from
>others in New Jersey.
>
>2) Our hospital no longer provides ethylene oxide gas sterilization in-
>house.  As far as we can determine, this is the only approved method for
>sterilizing our Fletcher-Suit-Delcos applicators.  We are currently sending
>our applicators out to a distant facility for gas sterilization, with an
>unacceptably long turn-around time.  Do any of you have ideas for improving
>this situation?
>
>Thanks!
>Sandy Gabriel, Ph.D.
>Senior Medical Physicist
>Department of Radiation Oncology
>South Jersey Hospital
>Millville, N.J.
>gabriels@sjhs.com
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