Do Double-fan Surgical Helmet Systems Result in Less Gown-particle Contamination Than Single-fan Designs?

Surgical helmet systems commonly are stand-alone systems with a single fan blowing air into the suit, creating positive pressure that blows particles out through areas of low resistance, possibly contaminating surgical attire and the surgical field. Two-fan systems were developed more recently to release spent air, also theoretically lowering pressure in the suit and decreasing the aforementioned risk of particle contamination. To our knowledge no study to date has measured the potential differences in gown particle contamination to support this hypothesis.