Simulation of the airflow patterns within the surgical microenvironment in operating room

Abstract

Maintaining acceptable indoor air quality within operating rooms (ORs) in healthcare facilities is vital to prevent surgical site infections (SSIs). Two prevalent ventilation systems, laminar airflow (LAF) and mixing ventilation (MV), are widely used in ORs for various surgical operations. However, several studies have stated that these systems have slightly different SSI rate controls. Earlier studies discovered the airflow velocity above the surgical incision in LAF-equipped ORs to be twice as high as in MV-equipped ones. In addition, the placement of surgical lamps and different airflow patterns add complexity to the study of the surgical microenvironment. The objective of this study is to characterize the airflow pattern in the surgical microenvironment by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations and experimental measurements in the newly built operating room lab at NTNU. The findings may provide new guidelines for standards development ensuring safer surgeries in healthcare facilities. The research project is called: Reduction of postoperative surgical site infection (POSI) through the development of XR tool. The project is supported by the Norwegian Research Council and Norconsult.