Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide Gas Plasma Technology Explained

The combination of hydrogen peroxide and low-temperature gas plasma safely and efficiently sterilizes validated medical devices and materials, in a compliant manner. This approach is considered advantageous over alternative reprocessing modalities.

STERRAD™ Sterilization Systems utilise a combination of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and low-temperature gas plasma to sterilize validated medical devices and materials rapidly and safely, without creating toxic residue. By reducing hydrogen peroxide vapour emissions as detailed below, this approach offers increased safety in comparison to alternative reprocessing modalities, including ethylene oxide (EtO) and other hydrogen peroxide systems.

With over 20,000 installations of STERRAD™ Systems globally, this technology is trusted to sterilize instruments by healthcare institutions around the world. Each feature of STERRAD™ Systems intentionally and directly addresses challenges that can occur in real-world reprocessing.

Technological advances have transformed many aspects of medicine, for example, robotic-assisted surgical procedures, which have led to the introduction of increasingly complex surgical instruments. This has in turn posed challenges for sterilization via traditional steam autoclaves, paving the way for development of other sterilization modalities able to process delicate instruments, such as flexible endoscopes.

Whilst EtO was introduced as an alternative to steam sterilization for heat and moisture-sensitive instruments, it is associated with several disadvantages, including long sterilization cycles, high costs and potential hazards to patients and staff.¹

Scientists in a Texas-based company pioneered the idea of using hydrogen peroxide for device sterilization. In 1987, this company officially formed as Advanced Sterilization Products (ASP).

ASP’s first vaporized hydrogen peroxide gas plasma sterilizer, the STERRAD™ 100 System, received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance in 1993. This novel technology sterilized medical devices by diffusing hydrogen peroxide vapor into the chamber before electromagnetically energising the hydrogen peroxide molecules into a low-temperature plasma state. The combined use of hydrogen peroxide vapor and plasma safely and rapidly sterilized medical instruments and materials, without producing toxic residues.

ASP continued to innovate over the years, introducing other sterilization systems such as the STERRAD NX™ System in 2005 and STERRAD™ 100NX System in 2007. Both of these systems were released with a Standard cycle for general medical instruments and a Flex cycle for single-channel flexible endoscopes. The STERRAD™ 100NX system subsequently received cycle upgrades, including an EXPRESS Cycle compatible with the Intuitive Surgical™ da Vinci™ Surgical Endoscope in 2011, and a DUO Cycle validated for flexible scopes and cameras in 2012. ASP then introduced the ALLClear™ Technology software upgrade for the STERRAD NX™ System in 2016 and the STERRAD™ 100NX System in 2017, reducing the number of cancelled cycles, increasing connectivity to the ASP ACCESS™ Data Station and hospitals’ ITS, and providing on-screen guides to increase compliance.