Responding to the needs of health care facilities and growing interest in Indigo-Clean technology, Kenall Manufacturing has introduced a new line of Indigo-Clean light fixtures specifically designed for operating rooms.
Like the original Indigo-Clean fixture that installs easily into the ceiling of any room, the OR version uses safe, visible, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to automatically, safely and continuously disinfect the air as well as hard and soft surfaces.
“Operating rooms represent one of the biggest challenges because of the procedures being performed, the frequent use of the facilities and the patients’ compromised immune systems,” said Cliff Yahnke, Ph.D., Kenall’s Director of Clinical Affairs for Indigo-Clean.
Indigo-Clean OR light fixtures provide bright, high-quality, white light to illuminate the surgical field, while continuously disinfecting the environment. When the OR is not being used, the lights can be switched to an Indigo-only mode, removing the white light and providing a higher degree of safe disinfection.
The Indigo-Clean technology was discovered in 2002 by researchers at Scotland’s University of Strathclyde and has been clinically proven to reduce harmful bacteria up to 70 percent beyond routine disinfection efforts. It has been the subject of more than 30 peer-reviewed journals and conference presentations. The university was granted the U.S. patent on the technology in 2013 and selected Kenall as the exclusive licensee to commercialize it for the North American health care market.
Earlier this year, the ECRI Institute included Indigo-Clean on its list of top 10 technologies that health care executives should watch in 2016.
Clinical evaluations of the technology have been underway at several U.S. hospitals to document the effectiveness of Indigo-Clean. Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee recently completed two evaluations of the technology in their gastroenterology (GI) clinic’s waiting room.
“During the first phase of our study, where we initially validated the lighting, we saw approximately a 40 percent reduction in bioburden,” said Dr. Nathan Ledeboer, associate professor of pathoglogy at the Medical College. “However, in Phase 2 of the trial, where the lighting deployment was optimized across the room, we were able to improve the bioburden reduction to more than 70 percent.”
Indigo-Clean is available in three configurations, including a Mixed mode (white and 405nm LEDs), Indigo-Only and a Switchable White and Indigo LED, which allows users to conveniently optimize the level of disinfection based upon room occupancy. •
For additional information, visit www.Indigo-Clean.com.
