Blunt needles cause fewer sticks, less HIV exposure
Blunt, curved suture needles cause fewer injuries to surgeons in gynecology than sharp, curved suture needles, reducing surgeons’ exposure to HIV and other pathogens, according to a recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
A CDC study compared the two types of injuries and found that the standard sharp needles were involved in percutaneous injuries at a rate of almost two per 1,000 needles. With the newer blunt needles, the rate dropped to zero (MMWR 1997; 46:25-29).
The CDC researchers studied 1,464 gynecologic surgeries at three New York hospitals. Sixty-one percutaneous injuries were recorded: 92% involved conventional curved needles, while only 8% involved straight needles. The blunt curved needles were used in 402 of the procedures, and no injuries were associated with them.
Surgeons reported some difficulty in using the new curved needle design, which has a noticeably blunt tip in comparison with standard needles. They also reported some difficulty in penetrating tissue, needle slippage, and similar problems in 6% of the procedures in which the new needles were used. t
Latex gloves fail more often than believed
Newly developed testing procedures show that latex gloves fail more often than health care providers realize, according to Medical Device Technologies, a San Diego company that manufactures medical supplies and designed the new tests.
Designed to simulate actual surgical use of latex gloves, the tests subject the gloves to mechanical stress while in contact with fluids containing viruses. The testing procedure used by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Washington, DC, is more simple. A sample glove is filled with water and watched for leaks within two minutes.
Company researchers found that 21% of the gloves tested allowed small amounts of virus to pass through. The company’s tests also found that gloves pierced by a needle are more dangerous than the FDA has concluded. When a glove is pierced by a 26-gauge needle, one of the smallest used in surgery, the FDA predicts that less than half will allow passage of virus. The manufacturer’s test suggests that 90% of those gloves allow substantial amounts of virus to pass through.
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