Sonosite Ultrasound Probes Declared Compatible With Chronos®

Sonosite ultrasound probes have been declared compatible with Chronos® UV-C High-Level Disinfection system for any probe. When seconds count, medical teams in day surgery, emergency, and intensive care units need to think fast and act fast. The new Sonosite PX, designed for the way clinicians deliver care, provides fast access to controls, streamlines clinical workflow, and optimizes bedside ergonomics. It allows clinicians to achieve a quick diagnosis and management for any patient.

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Sonosite has been dedicated to empowering clinicians to innovate the practice of medicine for better patient care. With over 140,000 Sonosite machines installed worldwide, they continue to partner with clinicians to bring the benefits of ultrasound to the point of care.

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Sonosites’ new interface can easily be cleaned and disinfected. In combination with Chronos® in high-level disinfection (HLD) for ultrasound probes, it further reduces the cross-infection risks and healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs).

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Chronos®: Ideal for Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS)

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Chronos® is designed with the clinicians in mind, empowering them with a faster, simpler, cleaner, high-level disinfection system for seamless workflows.

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With quick turnaround times, performing 10 to 30 blocks per day, including single-shot injections and catheter placements, it is often not practical to move probes to and from central sterilization departments for disinfection. Due to ultrasound probes’ reusable nature, they are ideal vectors for cross-contamination if not cleaned and disinfected correctly.

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Achieving Full Benefits

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To achieve the full benefits of utilizing ultrasound at the point of care, clinicians need to quickly high-level disinfect (HLD) ultrasound probes between patients. HLD is the only way to ensure all non-enveloped viruses (norovirus, HAV, HPV) and enveloped viruses (HSV, flu) are killed to reduce cross-infection risk between patients and medical teams.^1-4 

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Recently, the College of Intensive Care Medicine (CICM), Ultrasound Special Interest Group (USIG) published guidelines to reduce pathogen transmission from ultrasound use. The group recommends HLD as the standard of care following ultrasound-guided procedures within intensive care.⁵

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Both Chronos® and Sonosite bring different innovative solutions that bring confidence and safety to the clinical environment.

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Over 1,000 Ultrasound Probes Tested

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As for the internal compatibility procedure, Germitec has tested more than 1,000 ultrasound probes from numerous, globally known manufacturers, including Sonosite, Philips, Siemens, BK, Mindray, Samsung, Hitachi-Aloka, Esaote, Supersonic Imagine, and GE HealthCare. The entire list of specific probe types and manufacturers is available on request.

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The list is regularly updated as the number of our clients grows, and more probe manufacturers come in touch with our technology.

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Germitec is looking forward to working with new players in the expanding point-of-care ultrasound market, providing a better and safer working environment in probe disinfection at the point of care.

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Probe Compatibility Testing

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Given their size and vulnerability, ultrasound probes are among the most expensive and sensitive pieces of equipment used in medicine.

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This is why Germitec has a proactive approach to this matter. Apart from strict internal procedures to determine the compatibility of Chronos® with various types of ultrasound probes, Germitec closely cooperates with probe manufacturers across the globe to acquire their approval for its usage.

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For further information on ultrasound probe compatibility, please contact Germitec for a comprehensive probe compatibility list.

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1. CDC Health Alert Network September 11, 2015. Available from: http://emergency.cdc.gov/han/han00382.asp.
2. Keys et al., Efforts to Attenuate the Spread of Infection (EASI): a prospective, observational multi-center survey of ultrasound equipment in Australian emergency departments and intensive care units. Crit Care Resusc 2015; 17: 43–6.
3. Johnson et al.,Evaluation of a Hydrogen Peroxide-Based System for High-Level Disinfection of Vaginal Ultrasound Probes, Journal of Ultrasound Medicine, 32:1799-804, 2013.
4. Meyers C, Milici J, Robison R (2017) UVC radiation as an effective disinfectant method to inactivate human papillomaviruses. PLoS ONE 12 (10): e0187377.
5. Costello et al.,Prevention of pathogen transmission during ultrasound use in the Intensive Care Unit: Recommendations from the College of Intensive Care Medicine Ultrasound Special Interest Group (USIG) https://doi.org/10.1002/ajum.12205