S-PILOT® – The Comprehensive and Automatic Solution for Smoke Evacuation

KARL STORZ, as the first pioneer in laparoscopy, worked continuously on the development of the technique. A great example is the modular S-PILOT® smoke evacuation control system with in-line filtration and options for both active and passive applications. A recent SAGES and EAES guideline recommends, "The use of devices to filter released CO2 for aerosol particles should be strongly considered in MIS procedures."
Although KARL STORZ has not specifically tested the use of KARL STORZ and SARS-CoV-2 smoke evacuation devices, there are data on KARL STORZ filters and their effectiveness against other bacteria and viruses.
The effectiveness of KARL STORZ filters has been tested using the most common test methods with microorganisms, known as "Virus Filtration Efficiency (VFE)" and "Bacteria Filtration Efficiency (BFE)". These types of tests are considered to be the most similar to clinical scenarios. A test aerosol with a mean particle size of 3 +/- 0.3 µm and a bacteriophage ɸX174 virus with a particle size of 0.027 µm (for VFE) or Staphylococcus aureus bacteria (for BFE) were used. The test results confirmed a filter efficiency of more than 99.9999 %.
The size of the most permeable particles is typically in the range 0,1-0,3 µm. These particles are the most difficult to capture by the filter. Therefore, a test aerosol DEHS (= Di-2-Ethylhexyl-Sebacate) with a size of 0,3 µm was used for the non-microbiological tests. A filter efficiency of more than 99.9994 % was achieved.