RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:NewsA lumen is just the passageway through any instrument, such as the hole in a tube or straw that allows gas or fluid to pass through it. With endoscopes and other flexible instruments, there can be multiple lumens to allow for the passage of a light source, a viewing source, injections of dyes, drugs, or other instruments to perform a biopsy, for example, etc. The field is complex, and, unfortunately, many instruments are used only after being cleaned, disinfected, and then rinsed (often only to remove the toxic disinfectant) with sterile water. Many sterilant techniques are expensive and cause unacceptable degradation of the instruments, or don't penetrate the hard to reach areas (lumens, for example) thus leaving an intact biofilm of contaminants (bacteria, fungi, viruses) that can spread infection. I recall the OR unit Steris 1 had an installed base of approximately 28,000 when the FDA told users to replace them and advised that they did not sterilize but only disinfected due to possibly unauthorized modifications and being rinsed with only sterile water instead of being left in the sterile pan. I believe Steris has been replacing these units over the past few years, but there is still a market here. Check the FDA site for their list of units to replace the Steris units. TSO3's smaller 80L Sterizone unit will be intended to go after this market, I expect. For an idea of the complexities and inadequacies of many disinfection and sterilization systems, and the infections that can result from endoscopy, for example, check this recent paper: https://cmr.asm.org/content/26/2/231.full I hope this is helpful. WKH