Test® InstruSponge™ from Ruhof is an absorbent swab on a flexible wand that maneuvers through complex internal channels of scopes and cannulated instruments to verify if there are any contaminants left after cleaning. Test® Instrusponge™ is used in conjunction with the ATP Complete Handheld Unit and Test® Swabs to give an accurate numerical measure of bioburden present. According to the company, the process works like this:

• The Ruhof ATP Complete® Contamination Monitoring System detects Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP), the universal energy molecule found in all animal, plant, bacterial, yeast, and mold cells.
• Product residues, particularly blood and bioburden, contain large amounts of ATP. Microbial contamination contains ATP, but in smaller amounts.
• After cleaning, all sources of ATP should be significantly reduced.

• Flexible and rigid scopes with hard to access internal channels pose a unique challenge for monitoring cleanliness. For this reason Ruhof created the Test® InstruSponge™.
• When ATP is picked up by the tip of the Test® InstruSponge™ and brought into contact with the unique, liquid stable luciferase/luciferin reagent in the Test®  Swab tube, light is emitted in direct proportion to the amount of ATP present. This is known as RLU or Relative Light Units.
• The Ruhof ATP Complete® handheld unit measures the amount of light generated and provides information on the level of contamination in 15 seconds. The higher the reading, the higher the level of contamination.

www.ruhof.com