SwiftVets.com

[Guest]

WASHINGTON – Some veterans who received prostate biopsies in medical facilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in 11 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico may have been treated with improperly disinfected instruments, VA officials announced today.

Although VA has not received any reports of patients being harmed, the Department is notifying all veterans who were treated by the equipment in question, called "a prostate biopsy transducer." VA is also offering follow-on testing to determine if these veterans were exposed to any other ailments.

"The safety of our patients is of paramount concern," said Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin, VA's Under Secretary for Health. "VA's patient safety program detected this problem. Whenever there's a problem, we believe in notifying our patients and taking remedial steps immediately."

Although VA inspectors found that the equipment used for the prostate biopsies was being cleaned and disinfected after each procedure, some equipment was not being scrubbed by a brush after each use, resulting in the remote possibility of infection.

Improperly scrubbed equipment carries a small risk of exposing patients to Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).

VA is notifying patients who received prostate biopsies with the equipment in question at the following facilities:

· District of Columbia
· Iowa: Iowa City
· Maine: Togus
· Minnesota: Minneapolis
· Montana: Fort Harrison, Miles City
· Nevada: Las Vegas
· New York: Buffalo, Canandaigua
· Ohio: Cincinnati
· Oklahoma: Oklahoma City
· Oregon: Portland
· Puerto Rico: San Juan
· Tennessee: Memphis, Murfreesboro, Nashville
· Wisconsin: Milwaukee

Patients treated by the improperly scrubbed equipment will be notified and will be offered tests. The Department is working with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the manufacturer and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

[AMOS]

I feel much better knowing there are VA medical facilities in Puerto Rico. Can't wait to mail in my 1040 taxes today.

[LimaCharlie]

I wonder if this goes beyond the VA and is a problem in other clinics using the same equipment.
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I was going to become an anarchist, but they had too many rules.

[docford]

It is not an equipment problem, it is sterlization problem. A prostate biopsy transducer is used with an ultrasound machine. It is inserted into the area of which we do not speak, and it emits sound waves that are bounced back and transmitted into the computer for interpretation. Since it is not "surgical equipment," like a scalpel, it is not put through a sterilization process. Normally, the transducer (which is oval, round metal) is first cleaned with a chemical solution and then sometimes manually scrub brushed. Apparently VA standard operating procedures did not require the scrub brushing. Depending on how the transducer surface is constructed, scrub brushing might be overkill - but personally I would like overkill if it is something being used to probe my innards.
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Doc Ford
HMC (SW) USN

[jwb7605]

I've been diagnosed with bladder cancer, and after various and sundry "surgeries", am apparently making a successful recovery.

This, of course, does involve the insertion of "probes" to the aforementioned "areas of which we do not speak" every 3 months in order to verify that no tumors have reappeared. (way cool optical equipment ... fiber optic stuff hooked to a monitor ... I can see what's going on and ask questions while looking at the inside of my body)

The urologist, although his equipment appears to be clean (stored in disinfectant, etc), always gives me this big horse-pill antibiotic "just in case" after an exam. He says that the antibiotic gets anything that could possibly have been missed or introduced just by incidental exposure to the air. He's never had a problem with infections of any sort.

Unless by some procedure I hope I never find out about, the "probe" goes into the prostate, that ... at least in theory ... should take care of any normal germ problems. HIV, on the other hand, I'm not too sure about, but it seems like things would have to be really unclean to worry about that.

From what I've seen (literally), the "probe" in question would probably stop just short of the bladder, over the prostate gland, and then be operated in the ultrasonic mode.

Oh yeah ... my urologist and I both agree that your life is really strange, indeed, when you get used to the "procedures" and think of them as just like any physical

[LimaCharlie]