Analysis of Environmental Conditions in the Operating Room for Latex-Allergic Patients' Safety

Purpose: Most current protocols agree that latex-sensitive patients should be scheduled for elective surgery as the first case of the day with a 12-hour activity-free interval before surgically treating latex-allergic patients. Design: To understand the kinetics of decontamination of airborne particles in the operating room (OR) after a surgical procedure to determine the activity-free interval necessary between surgeries for latex-allergic patients. Methods: This observational study included 12 ORs in four hospitals. Baseline levels of airborne particles were established before surgery. Findings: Mean recovery time of ORs was 18.9 +/- minutes. To guarantee an efficacy of 99.9%, two standard deviations were added to the maximum time (28 minutes). Total recovery time: 32 minutes. Conclusions: ORs that complied with the requirements of our study before performing surgery on latex-allergic patients obtained the same environmental conditions as first thing in the morning after thorough cleaning of the OR and a 32-minute activity-free interval and staff traffic restriction.