Comparison Study of Environmental Hydrogen Peroxide Levels of STERRAD® Systems and STERIS V-PRO® Low Temperature Sterilizers Reveals Striking Differences

STERRAD™ Systems and V-PRO® sterilizers are widely used low-temperature sterilizers that use a hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) sterilant to reprocess a wide range of temperature- and moisture-sensitive instruments.¹

Whilst H₂O₂ offers improved safety compared with other commonly used sterilants, such as ethylene oxide (EtO), there are still strict safety standards in place to ensure that environmental concentrations of H₂O₂ remain at safe levels for sterilization staff.^{2, 3} 

In order to gain an understanding of the safety profile of different low-temperature sterilizers, a comparison study was conducted to evaluate the environmental H₂O₂ emissions of two STERRAD™ and two STERIS V-PRO® sterilizers.¹

• Upon opening of both V-PRO® sterilizers’ chamber doors, H₂O₂ concentrations spiked to levels above the maximum ACGIH® short-term exposure limit (5 ppm), with peaks ranging from 5 ppm to 20 ppm1
• The STERRAD™ 100NX and STERRAD NX™ never registered H₂O₂ concentrations above 0.3 ppm, well below the ACGIH® short-term peak exposure limit¹
• Overall, environmental H₂O₂ emissions from V-PRO® sterilizers were up to 67 times higher than emissions from STERRAD™ sterilizers¹ 

This study demonstrates that STERRAD™ Systems contribute to a safe working environment by limiting H₂O₂ emissions.¹ The results show that the use of gas plasma to dissociate H₂O₂ is more effective in limiting emissions than methods used in other sterilizers, such as the catalytic converters in V-PRO® sterilizers.^1,4