"To provide clinical laboratories with cost-effective, high quality alternatives."

Medical laboratories and hospitals typically use injection-molded plastic cuvettes designed and furnished for many different brands of automated analyzers used in conducting chemistry, coagulation and immunoassay tests in the delivery of health care.  Typically the plastic cuvettes have been designed by the manufacturer as a single-use item to be disposed of after each use.  This procedure results in millions of pieces of plastic cuvettes being contaminated as a biohazardous material which then must be disposed of by the health care industry.  The L.E.S.S., Inc. reprocessing method allows the same cuvettes to be decontaminated, thoroughly cleaned, quality inspected and reused from 10 to 100 times.
 

The reprocessing of cuvettes results in the following benefits:

1.  Significant savings in the purchase of cuvettes.
 

2.  Savings by eliminating the need for the disposal of cuvettes as biohazardous waste.  A traditional method of biohazardous waste disposal is a two-step process including incineration and depositing in a landfill.
 

3.  Enhancing the environment by eliminating the need for burying millions of non-biodegradable cuvettes in the world's dwindling landfill resources.
 

4.  No sacrifice in quality between new and reprocessed cuvettes.
 

Description of Cuvette/Rotor Reprocessing

Appropriate shipping containers, decontamination containers, and decontamination materials are provided to each participating laboratory.  Each day when testing has been completed, the used cuvettes are decontaminated by laboratory personnel in accordance with specific instructions provided by L.E.S.S., Inc. which includes established and proven decontamination procedures.
 

After decontamination, the cuvettes are no longer biohazardous and are shipped to L.E.S.S., Inc.'s reprocessing facility in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The cuvettes are received at the reprocessing facility, unpacked, placed in transport containers and assigned a batch identification number to maintain their identity through the entire process.  The cuvettes are then reprocessed via a series of large tanks, each containing eradicating agents and de-ionized water of a progressively higher quality.  In the case of all closed cell cuvettes, they are given a final cleaning on a machine where eradicating agents are injected under high pressure into each of the cuvette wells, rinsed, and then flushed out with dry, filtered, compressed air.

When the cuvettes have completed the process, they are dried in a room with controlled temperature, humidity and air flow.  The cuvettes are then removed from the drying room and taken to Product Inspection where 100% of all cuvettes are inspected in a dark room using a proprietary light source.  The optical surface of each cuvette well is hand polished to assure proper performance.  Cuvettes which do not meet quality standards are rejected and not returned to the laboratories.
 

After the cuvettes have been accepted by the Product Inspection Department, they are given an additional quality control inspection on a lot sampling basis to verify the Performance Inspection.  Once the cuvettes have received final approval from Quality Control, they are packed in specially designed packing containers and shipped back to the respective laboratories.
 

Comparative Quality

After over 20 years of reprocessing cuvettes and rotors, we are fortunate to have a substantial, loyal customer base.  Various comparative test reports that have been performed over the past years comparing the actual performance of reprocessed cuvettes to new cuvettes attest to the fact that there is no measurable difference between the two.

Additionally, the Health Care Financing Administration, in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration, has recognized the acceptability of reprocessed cuvettes by publishing in the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment State Operations Manual that, "The use in automated or semi-automated analyzers of rotors/cuvettes that have been reprocessed (reconditioned), passed quality control inspection criteria of the reprocessing company, and returned to the same laboratory that sent them for cleaning and re-use is not considered a method modification."

Cost Benefit Relationship

Generally speaking, in the preparation of a cost benefit relationship, the objective is to determine if the initial investment required will ultimately pay for itself within an acceptable time period.  In the case of using reprocessed cuvettes, since there is no investment required, the savings begin to accrue immediately.  The primary savings to the laboratory will be the reduction in purchase price paid for cuvettes.  Secondly, there will be additional savings since it will no longer be necessary to dispose of the large volume of plastic cuvettes as biohazardous waste and to pay the disposal costs thereof.

In general, laboratories will save approximately 40% to 50% of their current disposable cost by using the L.E.S.S. method of reprocessing.

Summary

Reprocessing of cuvettes for medical laboratories represents an excellent opportunity for reducing the cost of health care.  Reprocessing will enhance the environment by eliminating the need for disposing of millions of individual pieces of biohazardous nonbiodegradable plastic each year.  The quality of cuvettes and rotors that undergo our reprocessing methods is well established and accepted by the laboratory community.