Equipment tied to Quebec health scare used at Ottawa Heart Institute

Equipment used in operating rooms at the centre of a Quebec health scareis also being used in Ottawa, according to officials at the Ottawa Heart Institute.

Six Quebec hospitals are working to contact more than 23,000 patients who have had open heart surgery since 2011 about a potential risk ofinfection.

The risk stems from problems cleaning a contaminated piece of operating room equipment called the the Sorin3T Heater-Coolerthat'sessential in open heart surgery.

• 6 Quebec hospitals warn heart surgery patients of potential infection risk
• Montreal Heart Institute alerts patients of potential infection risk

"I think the most frustrating thing is for the patients," said Heather Sherrard, executive vice-president for clinical operations at the Ottawa Heart Institute.

"This is a relatively rareoccurrence. It's a bacteria that normally exists."

Also known as the Stockert 3T, the Sorin3T Heater-Cooleris used duringopen heart surgery to keepa patient's body at exactly the right temperature.

The Ottawa Heart Institute owns five of the machines. Two are on loan from the manufacturer as the heart institute has senttwo of its heater-coolers to the factory in Germany for deep cleaning.

Without the machines, the hospital would be unable to do four procedures a day, Sherrard said.

She said the hospital has also stepped up its own cleaning regimen.

Risk of infection low

The Montreal Heart Instituteannounced last week that two patients out of more than 8,000 who underwent cardiac surgery under cardiopulmonary bypasshadbeen diagnosed with a related infection.

According to the institute, theirheater-cooler systemwas contaminated with Mycobacterium chimaeraduring its manufacturing in Germany.

In the U.S., the contamination has been tied to at least 28 cases of bacterial infection.

The Ottawa Heart Institutehas called more than 4,500 patients over the past four years as part of its regular care process, Sherrard said, and has"no knowledge of any positive culture of the bacterium."

Symptoms of theinfection include night sweats, muscle aches, weight loss, fatigueandunexplained fever. It's generally not fatal, but it is dangerous for people already in a weakened state after surgery.

Accordingto Radio-Canada, the machines are still in usein the majority of hospitalsin both Canada and the United States due to a supply problem.