Renewable nano-structured coatings on medical devices prevent the transmission of clinically relevant pathogens

Abstract

Multi-resistant pathogens are one of the main challenges in health care as resistance genes vastly spread globally. One of the major causes for the dissemination of nosocomial infections is the contamination of medical devices. However, the common authorized sterilization processes are not suitable for heat sensitive medical devices. Against that background, a coating technique has been developed, which deposits a renewable layer on the surface of a medical device. For that reason, nanostructured coatings with cetyl palmitate (CTP) and silicium (Sicarstar) -nanoparticles have been tested. The different types of nanoparticles have been applied on polyethylene (PE) surfaces. PE is a material, which has been frequently used for medical devices like angiographic catheters. Before every coating, the surfaces have been treated in an anisothermal physical plasma, which has been carried out in a low-pressure discharge regime. The freshly coated specimens have been tested by several physical methods and biological techniques to obtain surface parameters such as the layer coverage of the substrate or the roughness and the cytotoxicity or the antimicrobial efficacy, respectively. First investigations confirm that the coatings considerably decrease the adsorption of microbial deposits. The coatings can be detached in a subsequent cleaning process. This process could be embedded in the reprocessing process as well as into an industrial context.