Formaldehyde Reduction in an Operating Room Setting: Comparison of a Catalytic Surgical Vacuum Device With a Traditional Smoke Evacuator

Introduction Electrosurgery exposes healthcare workers to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) including formaldehyde. Adopting electrosurgical devices that catalytically transform formaldehyde to benign substances has the potential to improve safety in surgical settings. Materials and methods We compared the efficiency of formaldehyde removal of two medical devices. The first was a novel surgical vacuum (SV) device containing ultra-low particulate air (ULPA) filtration, activated carbon and catalytic transition metal oxide. The second was a commonly utilized handpiece evacuator (HE) that contained only mechanical filtration and activated carbon granules. Both devices were exposed to formalin vapor. Results The time weighted average (TWA), median and peak concentrations of detected formaldehyde at the outflow of the SV unit were 90% lower than the corresponding values detected at the outflow of the HE device (p = 0.0034). When catalytic material was added to the HE device, the detected formaldehyde concentration at the outflow was reduced by 55% (p = 2.9 x 10(-15)). Conclusions The catalytic SV device has the potential to considerably reduce formaldehyde levels in operating room (OR) environments.