Cleaning And Care; General Instructions - Atmos Scope Operating Instructions Manual

5.0 Cleaning and care

5.1 General instructions

Adhere to national legal regulations, national and international standards and regulations as well as internal hygiene regulations
for reprocessing.
Reprocessing has to be carried out according to the manufacturer's rules and instructions. Only use recommended agents and
procedures. Prior to each reprocessing a leakage test must be performed to prevent the endoscope from damage by liquids.
Mechanical processing provides better and safer results and should therefore be preferred to manual cleaning.
Successful processing of this medical product can only be ensured if processing is performed through a validated processing
procedure. The user/processor is responsible for the validation.
To prevent contamination of a loaded instrument tray during the procedure, do not put contaminated instruments back onto the
tray, but collect them separately.
Encrusted or fixated residues from surgery can make the cleaning process more difficult or ineffective, and can cause corrosion
of the stainless steel. To avoid this, the time interval between procedure and processing must not exceed 6 h. Furthermore do
not use any pre-cleaning temperature >45 °C or cleaning or disinfection agents (active ingredients: aldehyde, alcohol) which
could fixate the residues even further.
Excessive doses of neutralizers or basic detergents can cause chemical degradation and/or fading of laser inscriptions on
stainless steel surfaces.
Residues containing chlorine or chlorides e.g. in surgical residues, medicines, saline solutions and in the industrial water used
for cleaning, disinfecting and sterilization will cause corrosion damage (pitting, stress corrosion) and result in the destruction of
stainless steel products. To remove such residues, the products must be rinsed sufficiently with fully desalinated water and dried
thoroughly.
Only use process chemicals that have been tested and approved (e.g. VAH/DGHM or FDA approval or CE mark) and which are
compatible with the product's materials according to the chemical manufacturers' recommendations. All process parameters
specified by the chemical's manufacturer, such as temperature, concentration and exposure times, must be strictly observed.
Failure to do so could result in the following problems:
• Optical deterioration of materials, e.g. fading or discolouration of titanium or aluminium surfaces. Visible surface changes
could occur for aluminium, with a pH > 8 in the application/process solution.
• Material damage, e.g. corrosion, cracks, breakage, premature aging or swelling.
Clean product directly after use.
Further detailed information for hygienically safe and gentle cleansing/reprocessing can be found under: www.a-k-i.org.
Preparation at the place of use
• If applicable, remove adapters and sealing cap (e. g. Luer Lock).
• If applicable, open valves/taps.
• Put the dry product into a closed disposal container and have it transferred to cleaning and disinfection within 6 h.
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