BACTERICIDAL ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION IN THE OPERATING ROOM

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Abstract
Twenty-three years of experience with ultraviolet radiation in operating rooms has led to the conviction that this method of decontaminating the air is both effective and safe. There have been no serious or permanent deleterious effects on the eyes or skin of the operating room personnel, but there has been a striking reduction in postoperative complications and deaths attributable to infections. Fatal infections in clean operative wounds numbered 17 in the 51/2 years preceding, and only 2 in the 5 years following, the adoption of ultraviolet radiation for this purpose. Records of 4,585 operations and of nearly 700 postoperative deaths during a 101/2-year period were analyzed and showed a striking superiority of results in the operating rooms in which ultraviolet radiation was used. With properly chosen fixtures, properly placed, radiation at wave lengths from 253.7 to 290.0 mμ can be delivered with an intensity of 18 to 30 microwatts per square centimeter at the operative site. No evident permanent damage to personnel or patients has been detected during 23 years of daily use of such radiation in either the one original or the 15 now used operating rooms so equipped.

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