Kubey W, Straka P, Holmes C
Effective titanium adapter disinfection for PD transfer set change procedure
17th Annual CAPD Conference
Perit Dial Int Suppl 1 (Feb) 17:S75 1997

One of the potential peritonitis promoting factors may be a contaminated titanium adapter if the junction between the adapter and transfer set loosens and is retightened. In most centers an immediate external disinfection of the transfer set-titanium adapter surfaces is done in such circumstances, but might be ineffective.

To adress this issue, Kubey et al compared two methods of titanium adaptor disinfection, as compared to the traditional 5 minute povidone-iodine soak. In the first study, adapters were inoculated with S. aureus in 10% bovine serum and air-dried to simulate the natural bioburden. Adapters sets were then recapped with a povidone cap and two groups were created: one that had the cap threaded by a single engagement, and the seocnd by means of threading, loosening and rethreading to distribute the povidone more equaly around the inoculated zone. In control group athere was a 5 minute soak in povidone of the whole adapter. Then, the devices were placed in growth media to assess efficacy of sterilization.

It appeared that 3/22 failed in the single engagement recapping group, 0/22 in the double engagement group, against 1/22 in the povidone soak group. A second study tested the double engagement method with a sample size of 59 and showed 3/59 failures in the cap procedure against 0/59 in the soak procedure-group. It is emphasized that the traditional soak method is the first choice treatment of the titanium adaptor in case of loosening.

Comment: This interesting in vitro study shows us once more how minimal quantities of microorganisms that survive on the surface of devices pose a risk to the PD patient. Whether this experiment can be extrapolated to an in vivo situation remains unclear, although this seems likely. The advice to patients to use the soak method after retightening a loosened adapter seems justified. (Johan Rosman M.D., The Hague, Netherlands)

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17th Annual CAPD Conference
Basic peritoneal dialysis : PD catheters
Basic peritoneal dialysis : Peritonitis and exit-site infection