Flexible endoscope reprocessing is an important requirement to minimize the risk of cross-infection between patients due to incomplete disinfection of a bacteria biofilm. The present study introduces a novel opto-chemical treatment to disinfect microbial biofilms (both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacterial biofilms), commonly found in flexible endoscopes. A low concentration disinfectant combined with infrared and blue light irradiations was applied to disinfect the bacterial biofilms in the endoscope. A basket-integrated optical device was designed to deliver uniform and concentric light onto the channel surface of the endoscope. Colony-forming unit assays were performed to quantify the vial cells while scanning electron microscopy (SEM) illustrated an extracellular matrix (ECM) of the bacterial biofilm. The infrared light irradiation heated the surface of the bacterial biofilm to ~ 65°C. The blue light irradiation induced a relative temperature increase of 30°C on the bacterial biofilm. The results showed that the opto-chemical treatment reduced approximately 7.5-log10 of the bacterial biofilm, which was four times higher than that of a standard disinfectant solution (2% glutaraldehyde). In comparison with the control untreated samples with intact ECMs, the SEM images showed significant damage to the bacterial biofilm under the opto-chemical treatment. The combined treatment induced antimicrobial effects in terms of inhibition of protein synthesis, thermal destruction, and oxidative stress, eradicating the bacterial biofilm more than the standard chemical disinfection. The proposed technique could be an alternative approach to disinfect the microbial biofilms and minimize the risk of secondary infection in endoscopy-related medical facilities.
Endoscopic biliary drainage including stent are a well-accepted clinical method for treating common bile duct (CBD) stenosis, but the treatment is only successful in the short term with stent exchange at 3 to 6 months. The current study aims to demonstrate a novel endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ECRP)-guided laser ablation technique on CBD stenosis by using a balloon catheter-integrated diffusing applicator (BCDA) for uniform treatment of tubular tissue. A 532 nm laser system was employed with BCDA to thermally coagulate the CBD tissue. For performance assessments, photothermal and mechanical responses of the tissue were evaluated in both ex vivo and in vivo mini-pig models in terms of structural and histological variations after the laser treatment. The ex vivo results confirmed the irreversible thermal denaturation in liver tissue without carbonization. The in vivo mini-pig tests confirmed high durability of BCDA during the ERCP procedures and no evidence of CBD perforation. Histological analysis validated a thin circumferential coagulation in the CBD with no or minimal injury to the peripheral organs. The proposed BCDA-assisted treatment may be a feasible endoscopic ablation method for treating disease or disorder in a tubular tissue structure. Further in vivo studies will investigate CBD stenosis-developed animal models to evaluate the chronic response of the laser-treated CBD tissue as well as the recurrence of CBD stenosis.
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