ArticleGMS hygiene and infection control2019
Air quality in the operating room: Surgical site infections, HVAC systems and discipline - position paper of the German Society of Hospital Hygiene (DGKH).
Article in GMS hygiene and infection control, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serious adverse events and 30-day hospital readmission rate following elective total knee arthroplasty: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2021Pooled it
- Failure mode and effects analysis of fuel and LPG shortage impacts on hospital operations: a framework for healthcare resilience in conflict-related supply disruptions.BMJ open quality · 2026Article
- Determinants of sustainable quality improvement for operating room clean air systems: a two-phase sequential qualitative study in Dutch hospitals.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Mobile Laminar Airflow for Intravitreal Injections: Reducing Microbial Load at the Instrument Field.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Perioperative nursing process-oriented bundled interventions and digital monitoring for the prevention of surgical site infections.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
- Clean Air, Safe Joints: Optimizing Operating Theatre Air Quality to Reduce Surgical Site and Periprosthetic Joint Infections.Orthopedic reviews · 2026Article
- How to get cheap clean air? Implementation of an affordable high-efficient air filtration ventilation system for operating theatres in a low-resource setting.GMS hygiene and infection control · 2026Article
- Strategies to Prevent Surgical Site Infections in Orthopaedic Surgery: A Literature Review.Cureus · 2025Review
- Analysis of the airflow features and ventilation efficiency of an Ultra-Clean-Air operating theatre by qDNS simulations and experimental validation.Building and environment · 2024Article
- Surgical smoke: a matter of hygiene, toxicology, and occupational health.GMS hygiene and infection control · 2024Review
- Comment on paper by Lv.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2023Article
- "From Nares to Wound: Exploring the mechanisms for Staphylococcal surgical site infections, implications for infection prevention".Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2023Article
- Changes in orthopaedic operating theatre practice, monitored using settle plates.Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England · 2022Article
- Is the risk of periprosthetic joint infection in patients undergoing total hip and knee joint arthroplasty in the multi-unit operating room higher than in the classical single-unit operating room?International orthopaedics · 2022Review
- Infection prevention and control considerations regarding ventilation in acute hospitals.Infection prevention in practice · 2021Article
- Operating Theatre Ventilation Systems and Their Performance in Contamination Control: "At Rest" and "In Operation" Particle and Microbial Measurements Made in an Italian Large and Multi-Year Inspection Campaign.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
- Evaluation of the exposure risk of SARS-CoV-2 in different hospital environment.Sustainable cities and society · 2020Article
- The Influence of Surgical Staff Behavior on Air Quality in a Conventionally Ventilated Operating Theatre during a Simulated Arthroplasty: A Case Study at the University Hospital of Parma.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In recent years, there has been an ongoing discussion about the value of laminar airflow (LAF=low turbulence displacement ventilation) in the operating room for prevention of surgical site infections (SSI). Some publications, e.g., from the WHO, issued the demand to no longer build LAF ceilings in operating rooms. The present statement deals critically with this position and justifies the use of LAF ceilings in different ways: Many of the papers cited by the WHO and others for the case against LAF do not provide reliable data.The remaining studies which might be used for answering the question give quite different results, also in favor of LAF.The size of the LAF ceiling in many studies is not given or mostly too small in comparison to actual technical requirements.LAF in different countries can mean quite different techniques (e.g., the US in comparison to Germany) so that the results of studies that do not take this into account may not be comparable.LAF has positive effects in terms of reducing particulate and bacterial load, associated with increased airflow in the surgical working area. A reduction of carcinogenic substances in the air may also be assumed, which would increase workers' safety. Thus, this paper recommends building LAF ceilings in the future as well, depending on the operations intended. Further, this paper gives an overview of possible reasons for surgical site infections and highlights the importance of discipline in the operating theatre.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.