Laminar versus turbulent airflow in operating theaters assessed in Sweden

In Sweden, the County Councils are grouped into six healthcare regions to facilitate cooperation and to maintain a high level of advanced medical care. One of them is Västra Götaland County Council with its Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Center, which aimed to work for continuous development of knowledge-based care in the region and ensure that healthcare is supported by science and evaluation. Also, it should follow up on the development of evidence-based healthcare nationally and internationally.

In July 2019, Västra Götaland HTA-Centre has published an HTA report for the effectiveness of laminar versus turbulent airflow in operating theaters, with regard to risk for postoperative surgical infections. The following conclusions were provided:

• Depending on the type of surgery, vertical laminar airflow compared with any other type of ventilation system in operating rooms may be associated with an increase or little or no difference in the risk for serious surgical site infections (low certainty of the evidence)
• It is uncertain whether vertical laminar airflow compared with any other type of ventilation system in operating rooms is associated with changes in mortality or surgical site infections (very low certainty of the evidence)
• Vertical laminar airflow, compared with any other type of ventilation system in operating rooms, is probably associated with a further reduction of CFU concentration in air sampled near the operation table (moderate certainty of the evidence).

See the full report in Swedish and English here.

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