OBJECTIVE: The authors made an in vitro assessment of the degermation power of 2.2% glutaraldehyde for 30 minutes in 3.2 mm diameter shaver blades used in videoarthroscopy. METHODS: 40 3.2 mm blades were used after being subdivided into four groups: Group I - 10 blades sterilized with ethylene oxide were placed in sterile state in a Brain-heart infusion (BHI) culture medium; Group II - ten blades sterilized with ethylene oxide were deliberately contaminated with Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Streptococcus faecalis, and Mycobacterium fortuitum and later placed in a BHI culture medium; Group III - 10 blades sterilized with ethylene oxide were contaminated by the same bacteria and later immersed in glutaraldehyde for 30 minutes, and after they were cleaned with saline solution, they were placed in the culture medium; Group IV - 10 blades sterilized with ethylene oxide were used in arthroscopic procedures , then washed an immersed in glutaraldehyde, and also placed in the culture medium. In the media were bacterial growth did occur, such growth was seen within 72 hours of incubation, such period being extended to seven days to retrieve mycobacteria. RESULTS: There was no germ growth in the culture media of Groups I, III, and IV, but bacteria grew in all samples of Group II. CONCLUSION: The 2.2% glutaraldehyde solution, within the validity period, used for 30 minutes, showed to be effective "in vitro", in the degermation of 3.2 mm Shaver blades even when they were deliberately contaminated by fast-growing mycobacteria.
Sterilization; Glutaral; Arthroscopy