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Surgical Instruments
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February 15, 2022
After a good cleaning and disinfection, your surgical instruments may be sterilized using a variety of methods. The chart below shows two common methods, autoclaving and cold sterilization. Sterilization destroys all microbial life. Some chemical sterilants can be used as high level disinfectants (HLD) when used for shorter exposure periods.
- You can sterilize your instruments by soaking them in a chemical sterilant like Cidex Plus® for 10 hours at 25°C. This process may be detrimental to fine instruments.
- Dry heat or autoclaving are the preferred methods of sterilizing surgical instruments. Typically, surgical instruments are sterilized by autoclaving. Autoclaving, which is saturated steam under high pressure, is the most common method for sterilizing surgical instruments. If you prefer to autoclave, instruments may be autoclaved individually or in sets. ...more
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February 14, 2022
The proper care and handling of surgical instruments is the simplest way to protect your investment and add years to the life of your instruments. Here is a handy infographics showing the steps for proper surgical instrument cleaning.
When you are cleaning instruments manually, here a few quick tips:
- Use stiff plastic cleaning brushes.
- Do NOT use steel wool or wire brushes.
- Use only neutral pH detergents.
Take special care when...more
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February 14, 2022
Although stainless steel is corrosion-resistant, it can still rust and stain if it is handled improperly. To determine if a discoloration is rust or just a stain, erase the discoloration with a pencil eraser. If there is pitting in the metal under the discoloration, it is corrosion. If the discoloration is removed, it was just a stain.
- A High pH can cause a brown or orange stain on surgical instruments.
- If a stain is dark brown, the stainless steel surgical instruments have likely been exposed to a Low pH solution.
- A...more
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February 10, 2022
Surgical instruments are designed to perform diagnostic, therapeutic, or investigative operations having specific functions such as to cut or incise, retract, grasp, hold or occlude, dilate or probe, suture or ligate.
The majority of surgical instruments are made of stainless steel or titanium (used where non-magnetic instruments are required). Stainless steel is an alloy that contains a minimum 12% chromium for corrosion resistance. Here's a quick comparison chart looking a various metals used in surgical instruments and the best applications for each.
Stainless Steel
Austenitic...more
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September 27, 2021
Inox, Titanium, Dumoxel®, Dumastar®, Antimagnetic... Have you ever looked at the variety of metal alloys for surgical instruments and laboratory tools and wondered which is best for your needs? Here's a brief rundown.
Hardness (Rockwell) Max. Temp. Resistance Max. Temp. Resistance Magnetic Stainless Steel & Inox 55-56 350°C Good Yes Dumoxel 36 350°C Excellent -
June 29, 2021
Scissors are cutting instrument with two blades joined together at a pivot point so that the sharp edges glide against each other to shear material that is between the blades. Micro scissors are often called Vannas or spring scissors. Fine tip scissors (like these Vannas) are ideal for use in very restricted spaces. Here we examine some of our popular Vannas scissors.
...more
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June 21, 2021
WPI offers alkaline cleaners for the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, healthcare, precision engineering, and other sectors.
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May 11, 2021
Stainless steel and polymers are two of the most popular material options for sterilization trays used in the pharmaceutical and medical industries. In terms of toughness, long shelf life and resistance to contaminant absorption, surgical stainless steel outperforms plastic trays, especially for medical usage. Stainless steel trays also have a lower total cost over time.
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May 10, 2021
by Carmen Raymond
Stainless steel sterilization baskets require a proper finish to increase the basket's versatility. The correct finish of stainless steel enhances it chemical resistance, handling characteristics and other key operational features. Let's take a look at the two most common finishes for stainless steel.
Passivation
Passivation is a corrosion-prevention treatment of stainless steel. This chemical process involves removing free iron from the metal's surface with citric acid or nitric acid. The process of passivation creates a thick protective oxide coating on the stainless steel, which makes it resistant to corrosive chemicals.
The process of passivation cleans the stainless steel surface, removing all grease, oils and dirt. This results in a uniform, smooth appearance and finish.
A smooth...more
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March 05, 2021
WPI’s disposable scalpels come in eight different styles and can be used for a wide variety of applications. Here you can see what makes WPI inexpensive, disposable scalpels such a popular tool.
Disposable scalpels are perfect for one-time surgical uses, dissections, woodworking, taxidermy, clay modeling and more. They are ideal for students, researchers, and crafters.
- WPI disposable scalpels have surgical stainless-steel blades installed on plastic handles.
- The plastic handle of the scalpel is textured to ensure a firm grip, and it is lightweight for comfortable use.
- The handle includes a handy, integrated 6 cm metric ruler etched on it.
- They come sterile and individually wrapped, with 10 blades in each...more
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March 05, 2021
WPI’s disposable scalpels come in many styles and are ideal for students, researchers, and crafters. Here we will describe some of the uses for these popular blades.
Scalpel blades come in a variety of shapes so that you can choose the ones best suited to your application.
The #10 blade is a commonly used blade for surgical applications. It is used for making large incisions through skin and subcutaneous tissues. It is similar to the #20 blade, which is somewhat larger. The #20 blade is used for larger incisions through thicker tissues or for dissection of the soft tissues in larger animals.
Blades #10, 15...more
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September 06, 2019
Benefits of Black Coated Surgical Instruments
Black coated surgical instruments are not only visually more attractive than the stainless-steel ones, there are several other benefits as provided below:
- Non-reflective surface reduces eye-fatigue
- Has prolonged life
- Up to 10 times harder than stainless steel
- 60% lower wear rate than stainless steel
- Corrosion resistant due to oxidized aluminum coating
- Anti-allergic due to the absence of Chromium and Nickel coating
- Easy to clean
Making of Black Coating Instruments
The black coatings are created by applying a layer of Titanium...more
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August 09, 2019
Whether you are working with your surgical instruments under bright lights or using a microscope, non-reflective black surgical instruments offer a distinct advantage. The titanium coating not only hardens and protects the cutting edge, but it also minimizes reflection from the surface of your instruments while you are working. They are corrosion resistant and biocompatible.
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March 13, 2019
Prior to sterilizing surgical instruments, it is a good idea to make sure you have cleaned them to remove blood, tissue and all other organic material. If soiled materials dries or is baked onto the instruments, it will interfere with microbial inaction and can compromise the sterilization process.
Cleaning is the removal of foreign material (e.g., soil and organic material) from objects and is normally accomplished using water with detergents or enzymatic products.
The most common type of mechanical automatic cleaner is the ultrasonic cleaner. Ultrasonic cleaners are used in conjunction with detergents and enzymatic cleaners. Ultrasonic cleaning removes particulates by cavitation (bubbles) and implosion. Waves of acoustic energy are transmitted in aqueous solutions and disrupt the bonds that hold particulate matter to surfaces.
When selecting...more