SABIC, PDI collaborate to address disinfection issues of medical devices

To give manufacturers new options for designing medical equipment while still addressing the disinfection demands of today’s healthcare environment, Saudi Basic Industries Corp. (SABIC) teamed up with PDI in a joint study on the environmental stress cracking resistance (ESCR) of SABIC’s materials used for medical device enclosures.

The two companies evaluated how well SABIC’s industry-leading thermoplastics withstand repeated exposure to PDI’s Super Sani-Cloth wipes, one of the leading surface disinfectants widely used in the healthcare environment to help prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The study revealed that several of SABIC’s product technologies – including Lexan EXL polycarbonate (PC) resin, Xylex (PC/polyester blend) resin and Valox polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) resin – deliver improved compatibility with PDI’s leading hospital-grade disinfectant.

SABIC is a global leader in thermoplastic technology while PDI is a leader in infection prevention products and solutions for the healthcare industry. PDI and SABIC collaborated to establish a testing procedure following ASTM D543 guidelines, and applied more stringent compatibility criteria compared to other benchmarks often used in the industry.

SABIC has published the study findings in its updated and expanded brochure, “Resistance + Durability: Chemical Resistance Performance Testing for Healthcare Materials”. Also featured in the brochure is a new section, “Designing for ESCR,” which describes why following best practices in injection molding processing and designs can be instrumental in reducing molded-in stress, a key contributor to ESCR performance.

“Combatting HAIs is greatly important for hospitals, but if materials are not appropriately selected for the healthcare environment, the frequent application of cleaning chemicals can cause device enclosures to crack prematurely, which can lead to increased maintenance costs for healthcare providers,” said Cathleen Hess, Healthcare business leader for SABIC. “Our joint study highlights the complex issue of environmental stress cracking, and provides valuable insights to help our customers make informed material selection decisions.”

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-association infection even though significant progress has already been made in preventing some infection types.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that there are hundreds of millions of patients affected by healthcare-associated infections globally each year, leading to significant mortality and financial losses for health systems all over the world.

“With heightened emphasis on infection control in healthcare environments, medical devices are regularly subjected to repeated contact with hospital-grade disinfectants and, as a result, require exceptionally strong materials that are less vulnerable to environmental stress cracking,” said Cheryl Moran, senior director of Portfolio Management, PDI Infection Prevention.

Moran also added that through guiding the manufacturers towards plastic materials that are more compatible with the specific disinfecting requirements of each medical device, the study benefits both the medical device manufacturers and healthcare providers, and ultimately benefiting the patient as well by protecting them from adverse events resulting from damaged or improperly disinfected equipment.

Environmental stress cracking is a complex problem that calls for in-depth knowledge of disinfectant and polymer chemistries and their compatibility, as well as part design and molding considerations. It is influenced by each aspect of the application development process, including, but not limited to, polymer morphology, chemical type and concentration, frequency of cleaning and residual stress in molded components.

The new SABIC/PDI study evaluated the compatibility of select SABIC materials with PDI’s Sani-Clothwipes containing an alcohol/quaternary ammonium compound (QAC)-based disinfectant. This intermediate-level disinfectant provides broad-spectrum efficacy with a two-minute contact time.

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Category: Features, Technology & Devices