What are the Cleaning / Disinfection guidelines for the Millar Mikro-Tip / VENTRI-CATH Catheters?

A. Cleaning Procedure
 
CAUTION: DO NOT submerge the wye junction or connectors. This will damage the catheter and void its warranty! Wipe with cleaner and gauze.
 
CAUTION: Use only the listed cleaners for the times/temperatures indicated.
CAUTION: Delays in rinsing greatly reduce cleaning effectiveness!
 

1. Wipe catheter with wetted gauze and flush catheter lumen with water immediately after use to remove bulk contaminants. During flushing, intermittently occlude lumen side openings to ensure complete flushing of the catheter tip. 

2. Submerge only the distal contaminated portion of the catheter in room-temperature water (DO NOT use hot water) up to the wye junction, or the connector’s strain relief.

3. If applicable, flush the lumen with water until the effluent is clear. Wipe the proximal outer surface of the catheter (including wye junction, and connector(s)) with soft gauze.
4. Clean the interior of the lumen hub with a wet Q-tip.
5. Prepare cleaning solution. Place the distal portion of the catheter in the cleaning solution.
6. If applicable, use a 15 cc syringe to flush the lumen with cleaning solution until no air bubbles are seen coming from the lumen. Leave the syringe attached so that the cleaner will continue to fill the lumen.
7. Wet soft surgical gauze with the cleaning solution. Wipe the outer surface of the catheter with gauze.
8. Soak distal portion of the catheter in a cleaning solution for the time specified, and then remove.
9. If applicable, remove syringe, clean the interior of the lumen hub with Q-tips soaked in cleaning solution. Drain the cleaner from the lumen of the catheter. Gently wipe the catheter and sensor clean with a soft, wet gauze or tissue.
10. Immediately rinse the catheter and sensor(s) at least three times with sterile, pyrogen-free water. Do not reuse the water from each rinse, as it will contain residuals from the cleaner.
11. If applicable, immerse catheter lumen distal openings in sterile, pyrogen-free water and aspirate at least 150 cc through the lumen. Flush lumen with sterile, pyrogenfree water at least three times.
12. Dry the outside of the catheter with soft gauze. Dry the lumen with at least fifteen 60-cc syringes of air, filtered air (900 cc), or carbon dioxide.
13. Package for sterilization. It is crucial that the lumen be dried completely.
14. Failure to clean and sterilize according to directions may void catheter warranty.

B. Disinfection

 
Procedure
1. The catheter must be cleaned, rinsed and dried prior to disinfection (see section A. Cleaning)). Soil, debris, proteins, and water can interfere with the effectiveness of the following procedure, posing a risk to the patient and the user. Note that some disinfectants have a limited usable life after activation or opening the container. Failure to heed such warnings can inhibit the effectiveness of the disinfection process.
2. Prepare the disinfectant according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
3. Fill a 10cc syringe with the disinfectant.
4. Connect the syringe to the lumen hub of the catheter.
5. Submerge all of the catheter’s lumen vents in a bath of the disinfectant. Submerge the catheter into the disinfectant up to the junction (dual-sensor or lumen models) or the connector strain relief (single-sensor/no-lumen models). Do not submerge the junction or the connector as it will damage the transducer and void the warranty.
6. Forcefully inject the contents of the syringe into the lumen and observe the disinfectant leaving the vents. If the disinfectant leaving the vents is not bubble-free, a larger syringe will be needed. Make sure that there are no bubbles on the surface of the catheter. The disinfectant must be in contact with all surfaces that need to be disinfected.
7. With the syringe still connected and the lumen vents still submerged, forcefully draw 3cc of disinfectant back into the syringe.
8. Force the disinfectant back through the lumen and observe the disinfectant leaving the vents to confirm that it is bubble-free.
9. Perform at least three cycles of inject/draw/inject. It is important to remove all bubbles from the lumen to ensure that all surfaces of the lumen are disinfected. Leave the syringe connected to the lumen hub so that the disinfectant will continue to completely fill the lumen.
10. Soak the transducer in the disinfectant at the temperature and time intervals listed.
Rinsing after Disinfection
1. Drain the disinfectant from the lumen of the catheter.
2. Rinse the device by submerging all exterior disinfected surfaces in sterile pyrogen-free water. The volume of the water should be at least two gallons (7.6 liters) and the soak time should be at least one minute.
3. At least three separate rinses are required. Do not reuse any of the water used for rinsing since it will be contaminated with the disinfectant.
4. During each rinse, inject 120cc of sterile pyrogen-free water through the lumen.
 

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This information is valid for the following catheter models:
 
Small Animal (Rats / Mice)
 
Mikro-Tip:
  • Single Pressure - SPR-1000, SPR-320, SPR-407, SPR-513, SPR-671, SPR-882, 
  • Multiple Pressure - SPR-721
  • Pressure-Volume - PVR-1030, PVR-1035, PVR-1045, SPR-838, SPR-839, SPR-864, SPR-869, SPR-878, SPR-901
Large Animal (Rabbit/Dog/Pig/Sheep/Cow/Horse)
 
Mikro-Tip:
  • Single Pressure - MPR-500, SPR-249A, SPR-330A, SPR-340, SPR-340S, SPR-350, SPR-350S, SPR-370, SPR-370S, SPR-524, SPR-595
  • Implantable - SPR-407I, SPR-671I
Non Mikro-Tip:
  • Pressure-Volume - SPR-877, SPR-889, SPR-894, SPR-923-1, SPR-923-2, SPR-923-3
Ventri-Cath:
  • Pressure-Volume - SPR-562-1, VENTRI-CATH-507, VENTRI-CATH-507S, VENTRI-CATH-510, VENTRI-CATH-510S, VENTRI-CATH-512, VENTRI-CATH-512S, VENTRI-CATH-512, VENTRI-CATH-512S

 

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