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Reference
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Toul mobile laminar airflow can be used in every operating room in addition to the existing ventilation system without installation costs. Conventional airflow systems do mostly not arrive at the operating field as they are hindered by the surgical light and the heads of the operating team. Toul is positioned very close to the operating field and therefore it is possible to reduce the contamination level up to 95 % for the operating field and Toul instrument table.
Toul technology has been used for more than 6 years in various hospitals in Sweden with success. They reduced their surgical infection rate below 1 % which saves the hospital money for extra treatment and longer hospital stays. Toul is also an excellent solution for field hospitals as it creates immediately sterile conditions wherever you need it.
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The absolute majority of postoperative wound infections after total hip and knee replacements is caused by bacteria that landed in the operation wound during the total joint surgery
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The total cost for one postoperative wound infection after total hip and knee replacements is about 50.000 to 57.000 $$'. (Spangehl 1999)
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Once the bacteria attached themselves to the surface of the prosthesis they form a slime envelope that protects them against the action of antibiotics and the immune defense of the body. Moreover, adherence to a surface also changes the characteristics of the adhering bacteria, among others their resistance to antibiotics increases 100 to 1000 times
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The most important contamination of our environment is by bacteria that travel on small skin scales (the mean size is 12 microns = thousandths of millimeter) in the air of the operation room and sediment as an invisible dust on all surfaces in the operation room as long as people are staying there.
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Every healthy person has millions of bacteria living on the skin surface and on the mucous membranes of his / her nose, mouth, and bowels. We spread continually these bacteria in the environment around us. These bacteria do not cause any problems to us in our everyday lives. Yet, these bacteria cause the majority of our postoperative infections.
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