Ridley-Tree Cancer Center has unveiled the Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robot used to enhance environmental cleanliness by disinfecting and destroying hard-to-kill germs, bacteria and superbugs in hard-to-clean places.

“Patients being treated here are often immunocompromised as a result of their treatments and susceptible to infectious disease.," said Matthew Kunkel, vice president of oncology services at Ridley-Tree Cancer Center..

"The microorganisms that cause infections are getting smarter and becoming antibiotic-resistant, which is why we need new weapons like the Xenex robot to destroy them before they pose a threat to our patients,” Kunkel said.

“The Ridley Tree Cancer Center is a state-of-the-art facility with leading-edge technology. Using the Xenex LightStrike system to disinfect rooms is an example of our commitment to and focus on patient safety," he said.

"Hundreds of people enter this facility every day — patients, visitors, doctors, employees and vendors — bringing a whole smorgasbord of contaminants and germs with them," Kunkel said.

"Using the Xenex device enables us to get rid of those pathogens before they can endanger our patients and staff," he said.

The Xenex robot, named Dr. Lightstrike Flash, was purchased by the Ridley Tree Cancer Center, thanks to a donation by the Roke Foundation.

Flash uses pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light to quickly destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi and bacterial spores.

The portable disinfection system is effective against even the most dangerous pathogens, including Clostridium difficile (C. diff), norovirus, influenza, Ebola and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.

UV has been used for disinfection for decades. The Xenex LightStrike Germ-Zapping Robot is a new technology that utilizes pulsed xenon (not mercury bulbs) to create germicidal UV light.

Pulsed xenon emits high-intensity UVC light, which penetrates the cell walls of microorganisms, including bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus and spores. Their DNA is fused, rendering them unable to reproduce or mutate, effectively killing them on surfaces.

The portable Xenex system can disinfect a typical patient or procedure room in five-minute cycles without warm-up or cool-down times.

Operated by the hospital cleaning staff, it can be used in any department and in any unit within a healthcare facility, including isolation rooms, operating rooms, general patient care rooms, contact precaution areas, emergency rooms, bathrooms and public spaces.

The Xenex pulsed xenon UV disinfection system has been credited by numerous health care facilities across the U.S. for helping them reduce their infection rates significantly.

Several hospitals have published their C.diff, MRSA and Surgical Site infection rate reduction studies in peer-reviewed journals. 

Some 400 hospitals, Veterans Affairs and Defense Department facilities in the U.S., Canada, Africa, UK, Japan and Europe use Xenex robots. They also are in use at skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and long term acute care facilities.

— Jill R. Fonte for Ridley-Tree Cancer Center.