The Effectiveness of Drying on Residual Droplets, Microorganisms, and Biofilms in Gastrointestinal Endoscope Reprocessing: A Systematic Review

Table 4

Evaluation of the effects of different drying methods on residual fluid droplets in endoscopic working channels.

First author	Drying methods	Endoscopy of droplets ()	Total endoscopy ()	(%)	≤30 min droplets	24 h droplets	48 h droplets	≥72 h droplets
Barakat	AER (alcohol flushing and 1 min air flushing) and manual forced air drying for 10 min	5	5	100	4.55 (6.14)	1.62 (1.61)	0.51 (0.7)	0 (0)
Barakat	AER (alcohol flushing and 1 min air flushing) and automated drying for 5 min	4	5	80	0.83 (1.29)	0.20 (0.34)	0.04 (0.11)	0 (0)
Barakat	AER (alcohol flushing and 1 min air flushing) and automated drying for 10 min	0	5	0	0 (0)	0.01 (0.07)	0 (0)	0 (0)
Ofstead	AER (alcohol flushing and 1 min air flushing) and medical-grade forced air drying for 10 min	21	45	47	Not done	a few	a few	Not done
Barakat	AER (alcohol flushing and 1 min air flushing) and manual forced air drying for 10 min	29	68	42.60	0.62 (0.95)	Not done	Not done	Not done
Thaker	Manual forced-air drying at room temperature. Medical air for more than 2 min in each port	8	97	8.2	Not done	A few	Not done	Rare

AER: automated endoscope reprocessor.