but we don't see the benefit of using them routinely to verify that
you've cleaned the scope correctly."
• Drying before storage. Does gravity pull moisture out of scopes in
drip-dry cabinets? Not likely. "The scope's channels are almost like
capillary tubes, and moisture's not likely to drain by gravity," says Mr.
Lavanchy. He prefers a drying cabinet design that blows warm filtered
air through it and, even better, a drying cabinet that has connections
for each of the channels to force air through them.
Studies have demonstrated that a final drying step that includes
flushing all channels with alcohol, followed by purging the channels
with compressed air (to remove the alcohol), greatly reduces the pos-
sibility of recontamination of the endoscope by any residual microor-
ganisms, says Mr. Lavanchy.
