Both conventional ventilation, laminar airflow systems limited bone cement fumes

Jamison MP, et al. J Bone Joint Surg. 2023;doi:10.2106/JBJS.23.00239.

Jamison MP, et al. J Bone Joint Surg. 2023;doi:10.2106/JBJS.23.00239.

According to results published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, conventional ventilation and laminar airflow were effective for keeping methylmethacrylate fumes below harmful levels during closed bone cement mixing under vacuum.

Matthew P. Jamison, MD, and colleagues at Brigham & Women’s Hospital compared the effectiveness of conventional ventilation and laminar airflow in reducing methylmethacrylate (MMA) monomer fumes during bone cement preparation of a Sawbones femoral canal. Researchers measured MMA vapor release with a calibrated MiniRAE 3000 (Honeywell). Five different vacuum cement-mixing systems were randomly utilized to mix the same cement type 10 times in each OR setting.

Jamison and colleagues found the conventional ventilation system had higher mean MMA concentrations for most mixing systems compared with laminar airflow. However, they found the Palacos Pro All-in One Fixation System (Heraeus Medical), an entirely closed system, had the lowest overall emissions of the five mixing systems when used in an OR with conventional ventilation.

Researchers concluded that both conventional ventilation and laminar airflow were effective for keeping MMA concentrations below harmful levels, as defined by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.