2016 Volume 49 Issue 9 Pages 589-592
Despite hemodialysis staff often being exposed to blood splatter, little information is available about the risk of infection due to microscopic blood splashes. We quantitatively evaluated the degree of blood splatter using a Lumitester PD-30 (Kikkoman, Japan), which measures the extent of blood splashing on gloves and goggles during puncture procedures. Visible blood splatters were excluded from the analyses. The following measurements of ATP+AMP (relative light units [RLU] ) were obtained before and after skin puncture procedures : Right glove : 64.3±48.2 (RLU) →493.8±304.4 (RLU) ; left glove : 83.3±55.8 (RLU) →407.1±251.5 (RLU) (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively) ; goggles : 59.5±37.8 (RLU) →134.2±94.0 (RLU) (p<0.01). It is suggested that staff are exposed to blood splashing during dialysis puncture procedures, particularly on their hands and eyes.
