Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust has just started the first UK pilot evaluation of nasal photodisinfection for the prevention of surgical site infections.
The six-month pilot will see 500 elective hip and knee surgery patients nasally decolonised using Ondine Biomedical’s Steriwave nasal photodisinfection prior to their surgery. Steriwave is already in use at a number of hospitals across Canada, including Vancouver General Hospital and The Ottawa Hospital, and in studies has demonstrated significant improvement in post-surgical outcomes – including lower infection rates, reduced patient stay length, fewer readmissions, and lower rates of antibiotic prescribing.
Dr Stuart Bond, Consultant antimicrobial pharmacist and director of Innovation at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, said: “We are very pleased to be the UK’s first NHS Trust in to pilot this exciting, non-antibiotic method of preventing infections after surgery. Although infections after hip and knee surgeries are rare, we know they lengthen patients’ stay in hospital, complicate the recovery process, and cause significant pain and suffering. We look forward to sharing the results of the Steriwave pilot in due course.”
Ondine Biomedical says nasal decolonisation is recommended by NICE to eliminate pathogens in a patient’s nasal cavities, like MRSA, which are major causes of SSIs. A patient with a surgical site infection will, on average, spend 7 to 11 days more in hospital, significantly increasing costs and lengthening recovery. Nasal mupirocin, an antibiotic, is usually used for nasal decolonisation, but – the company maintains – there are ‘serious concerns about its antimicrobial resistance rates’, which have been reported as high as 81%.
Nasal photodisinfection is a non-antibiotic method for nasal decolonisation that uses a proprietary light-activated agent to destroy pathogens. First, the agent is applied to each nostril using a nasal swab, then the area is illuminated with a specific wavelength of light. The light activates the photodynamic agent, causing an oxidative burst that reportedly destroys pathogens. In this single, five-minute treatment, Steriwave ‘eliminates infection-causing bacteria, viruses, and fungi in the nose’.
