Rationale for practical medical device accelerated aging programs in AAMI TIR 17

A Technical Information Report, TIR 17, entitled, “Radiation Sterilization Material Qualification” has been published by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) to provide guidance in order to increase the quality and reduce the cost and amount of time required for performing medical device material qualifications. It contains four sections that cover the fundamentals of material selection, processing, testing and accelerated aging programs. The last of these sections, entitled “Accelerating Aging Programs,” provides step-by-step guidance for simple, empirical accelerated programs of use to the medical device industry. The methods are based on van’t Hoff’s observation that the rate of chemical reactions increases by a factor of two for every 10°C increase in temperature, the Q₁₀=2 rule.

With critical patient safety concerns in the medical device industry, it is appropriate for both device manufacturers and regulators to ask if simple, empirical methods such as those outlined in TIR 17 are reasonable and responsible. One reason for confidence in the methods is their success when used in aging environments that are much more severe than those commonly used in the medical device industry. Another reason for confidence in the methods is found from the observation that the working equations of the method can be derived from theory. This paper provides an overview of the thermal accelerated aging theory that forms the basis for the working equations of the accelerated aging programs of TIR 17. Assumptions used are examined and found reasonable; the theoretical foundation is established. While this foundation provides added confidence for the application of the methods of TIR 17 to the medical device industry, it is emphasized that application of the methods within appropriate boundaries is critical. Theoretical boundaries are explained and demonstrated by means of Arrhenius plots, and practical boundaries discussed.