ABSTRACT

Although very few scientific data existed on the microbial contamination of the probes at that time, it was quite obvious that cleaning the probe with detergent/water should be the cornerstone of the disinfection, since the probes could not be autoclaved as vaginal specula could. Ultrasound covers were already routinely used at that time; however, the effectiveness of this barrier in daily clinical practice was not well known. This chapter shows the superior quality of condoms, which were a cheaper alternative than the commercially available probe covers. The risk for bacterial contamination after manual disinfection was 2.9-fold higher than the risk after automated disinfection using a Trophon EPR automated system in the study of Buescher et al. Although the cleaning and disinfection of an ultrasound probe might seem futile in the broader package of sonographers' tasks, there is a risk that the disinfection fails simply due to lack of education and training.