Plasma sterilization of selected ophthalmic instruments for combined intraocular surgery.

Plasma sterilization is a nontoxic fast procedure for thermolabile and thermostable microsurgical instruments. We report data on the microbicidal effectiveness for daily routine surgical instruments like steel scissors, trephination devices, microstripper and Vitro-Cat as well as irrigation/aspiration instruments. When these instruments were cleaned from blood and saline, and when H2O2 intensifiers (adapters) were applied where necessary plasma sterilization proved to be a microbiologically safe procedure with legally adequate reduction factors of > 6 log.