A fully integrated 10 MeV electron beam sterilization system

Simulation study on radiation fields around targets to apply CR-39 for photo-neutron measurement in electron accelerator near the threshold energy

Photo-neutron production in electron accelerator near the threshold energy has been studied by Monte Carlo simulation using the FLUKA code. A pencil beam of 10 MeV electron was incident normally on W, Ta, Pb and Bi targets and a CR-39 detector attached to the target was used as scoring region. In the simulation, photon and neutron spectra, yield and their spatial distribution, fast neutron fluence above 100 keV, total dose and neutron dose deposition were estimated for these metallic targets. The photon emission was found to be forward peaked whereas the neutron emission was isotropic in nature. The photon yield was found to be 5 to 6 orders of magnitude higher than that of neutrons. In W and Ta, the photon yield is maximum for 1.5 mm thickness whereas for Pb and Bi, the photon yield is highest at 2 and 2.5 mm respectively. The total neutron yield was highest for W and lowest for Pb whereas highest number of fast neutrons above 100 keV was for W followed by Bi, Pb and Ta. Production of significant number of fast neutrons above 100 keV suggests the possibility of the use of CR-39 detector for measurement of these neutrons. The total dose deposition was found to be highest for Bi followed by Pb, Ta and W whereas the neutron dose equivalent was highest for W followed by Pb, Bi and Ta. This simulation study will be useful for neutron dosimetry, estimation of source term, implementation of CR-39 for measurement and other radiation protection aspects in the vicinity of an electron accelerator.

Effects of Sterilization on Shape Memory Polyurethane Embolic Foam Devices

Polyurethane shape memory polymer (SMP) foams have been developed for various embolic medical devices due to their unique properties in minimally invasive biomedical applications. These polyurethane materials can be stored in a secondary shape, from which they can recover their primary shape after exposure to an external stimulus, such as heat and water exposure. Tailored actuation temperatures of SMPs provide benefits for minimally invasive biomedical applications, but incur significant challenges for SMP-based medical device sterilization. Most sterilization methods require high temperatures or high humidity to effectively reduce the bioburden of the device, but the environment must be tightly controlled after device fabrication. Here, two probable sterilization methods (nontraditional ethylene oxide (ntEtO) gas sterilization and electron beam irradiation) are investigated for SMP medical devices. Thermal characterization of the sterilized foams indicated that ntEtO gas sterilization significantly decreased the glass transition temperature. Further material characterization was undertaken on the electron beam (ebeam) sterilized samples, which indicated minimal changes to the thermomechanical integrity of the bulk foam and to the device functionality.

Soft-tissue allografts terminally sterilized with an electron beam are biomechanically equivalent to aseptic, nonsterilized tendons

BACKGROUND

Allograft safety is contingent on effective sterilization. However, current sterilization methods have been associated with decreased biomechanical strength and higher failure rates of soft-tissue allografts. In this study, electron beam (e-beam) sterilization was explored as an alternative sterilization method to preserve biomechanical integrity. We hypothesized that e-beam sterilization would not significantly alter the biomechanical properties of tendon allograft compared with aseptic, nonsterilized controls and gamma-irradiated grafts.

METHODS

Separate sets of forty fresh-frozen tibialis tendon allografts (four from each of ten donors) and forty bisected bone-patellar tendon-bone (BTB) allografts (four from each of ten donors) were randomly assigned to four study groups. One group received a 17.1 to 21.0-kGy gamma radiation dose; two other groups were sterilized with an e-beam at either a high (17.1 to 21.0-kGy) or low (9.2 to 12.2-kGy) dose. A fourth group served as nonsterilized controls. Each graft was cyclically loaded to 200 N of tension for 2000 cycles at a frequency of 2 Hz, allowed to relax for five minutes, and then tested in tension until failure at a 100%/sec strain rate. One-way analysis of variance testing was used to identify significant differences.

RESULTS

Tibialis tendons sterilized with both e-beam treatments and with gamma irradiation exhibited values for cyclic tendon elongation, maximum load, maximum displacement, stiffness, maximum stress, maximum strain, and elastic modulus that were not significantly different from those of nonsterilized controls. BTB allografts sterilized with the high e-beam dose and with gamma irradiation were not significantly different in cyclic tendon elongation, maximum load, maximum displacement, stiffness, maximum stress, maximum strain, and elastic modulus from nonsterilized controls. BTB allografts sterilized with the e-beam at the lower dose were significantly less stiff than nonsterilized controls (p = 0.014) but did not differ from controls in any other properties. The difference in stiffness likely resulted from variations in tendon size rather than the treatments, as the elastic moduli of the groups were similar.

CONCLUSIONS

The biomechanical properties of tibialis and BTB allografts sterilized with use of an e-beam at a dose range of 17.1 to 21.0 kGy were not different from those of aseptic, nonsterilized controls or gamma-irradiated allografts.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE

E-beam sterilization can be a viable method to produce safe and biomechanically uncompromised soft-tissue allografts.

Inactivation kinetics of Escherichia coli by pulsed electron beam

A novel and compact low-energy (keV) high-power pulsed electron beam (e-beam) that utilizes a secondary emission electron gun (SEEG) was designed and constructed. Escherichia coli JM 109 at a concentration of 10(6) CFU/mL was spread-plated on Luria-Bertani (LB) medium and subjected to the SEEG e-beam. The e-beam was administered as 1 or 5 pulses. The duration of a single pulse was constant at 5 micros, e-beam current density was constant at 25 mA/cm2, and e-beam energy varied between 60 and 82.5 keV. Following treatment with the SEEG e-beam, survivors of the irradiated E. coli samples were enumerated by a standard 10-fold dilution and spread-plated. The survivor curves were plotted on logarithmic scale as a function of e-beam dose. The D10-values were calculated as a negative reciprocal of the slope of the survivor curves. The D10-values for E. coli inactivated with 1- and 5-pulse SEEG e-beam were 0.0026 and 0.0217 Gy, respectively. These D10-values were considerably lower than published D10-values for E. coli inactivated with conventional high-energy continuous e-beam, likely due to shorter exposure time (t), greater current density (J), and a pulse mode of the SEEG e-beam. The SEEG e-beam showed promising results for microbial inactivation in a nonthermal manner; however, due to low energy of the SEEG e-beam, current applications are limited to surface decontamination. The SEEG e-beam may be an efficient processing step for surface inactivation of food-borne pathogens on ready-to-eat products, including fresh and leafy vegetables.