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High concentration potassium permanganate eliminates protein and particle contamination of the reusable Classic ™ laryngeal mask airway
Author(s) -
Laupau W.,
Brimacombe J.,
Richards E.,
Keller C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2006.04642.x
Subject(s) - potassium permanganate , contamination , potassium , staining , medicine , saline , particle size , permanganate , chromatography , pathology , chemistry , biology , inorganic chemistry , ecology , organic chemistry
Summary In this three‐stage study, we test the hypothesis that supplementary cleaning with potassium permanganate ≥4 mg.l −1 eliminates protein and particle contamination from the reusable Classic ™ laryngeal mask airway. The first stage involved supplementary cleaning of 70 1 × 1 cm segments from deliberately contaminated laryngeal mask airways using potassium permanganate at 0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32 and 64 mg.l −1 and testing for protein staining. This showed that the lowest concentration required to eliminate protein contamination was 8 mg.l −1 . The second stage involved supplementary cleaning of 50 used laryngeal mask airways with either potassium permanganate 8 mg.l −1 or saline and testing for protein staining. This showed that protein contamination was lower in the potassium permanganate group (p < 0.00001): all laryngeal mask airways in the control group and none in the potassium permanganate group were contaminated. The third stage involved scanning electron microscopic examination of 1 × 1 cm segments from three laryngeal mask airways used in the control group, three from the potassium permanganate group, plus three brand new laryngeal mask airways. The mean density of ≥1 μm surface particles was lower in the potassium permanganate 8 mg.l −1 than the control group (21 vs. 121 .cm −2 , p < 0.0001) and was similar to brand new laryngeal mask airways (24 .cm −2 ). We conclude that supplementary cleaning with potassium permanganate 8 mg.l −1 eliminates protein deposits from reusable laryngeal mask airways and reduces particle contamination to similar levels to brand new laryngeal mask airways.