UW Hospital has told 53 patients they face an â??extremely lowâ? risk of contracting a rare but deadly brain disorder because they may have been operated on with contaminated surgical instruments.
The instruments had been used on a woman who died Tuesday of the brain disorder, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. She had surgery at the hospital in June.
Hospital officials say they immediately stopped using the surgical instruments once tests confirmed the womanâ??s diagnosis. However, the 53 patients all had neurosurgery during a 40-day window when the instruments were still in use, said Dr. Carl Getto, the hospitalâ??s chief medical officer.