Indication composition for surgical instrument cleaning evaluation

#The present invention relates to an indicator composition for evaluating cleaning of a medical instrument contaminated with body fluid or blood during, for example, surgery; to an indicator device for evaluating cleaning of a medical instrument utilizing such an indicator composition; to a method for evaluating cleaning of a medical instrument wherein such an indicator device is used; and to a kit for evaluating cleaning of a medical instrument comprising a combination of such a cleaning evaluation indicator device used in the above method and a color reagent.

#With the advance in medical technology, medical apparatuses having complicated shapes and medical instruments made of special materials are widely used. Therefore, there is a need for a method for cleaning, disinfecting, and sterilizing these medical devices and instruments safely and reliably.

#In particular, the quality of cleaning greatly affects subsequent disinfection and sterilization processes, and therefore a method for evaluating the quality of cleaning is of importance.

#FIG. 1 shows a cleaning evaluation indicator device, obtained in Example 1 of the present invention, in a plane view (a) and in a schematic cross-sectional view (b). 1: test substrate; 2: indicator composition;

#FIG. 2 is a set of photographs which show the amount of indicator compositions remained after cleaning for various time periods on indicator devices to which the indicator compositions, each having a different concentration of the extracellular matrix component, had been applied; and

#FIG. 3 is a graph which shows the time course of the removal rate of the contamination models when cleaning the indicator devices to which the indicator compositions, each having a different concentrations of the extracellular matrix component, had been applied.

#The present invention will be described hereinafter with reference to an embodiment, but is not limited thereto.

#A first object of the present invention is to provide an indicator composition comprising an extracellular matrix component and hemoglobin.

#The extracellular matrix component contained in the indicator composition of the present invention is composed of extracellular substances, mainly fibrous proteins, proteoglycans, and cell-adhesive proteins, which are contiguously present from the outside vicinity of animal cell membranes toward outside and form a network structure.