Abstract:Objective To understand current situation and existed problems of cleaning and disinfection of ultrasound probes of digestive endoscopes in China. Methods Cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization of ultrasound probes of digestive endoscopes at 37 hospitals in China were investigated through questionnaire. Results 70.27% of the hospitals had 1-3 endoscopic ultrasound probes, most were Olympus brand (72.97%), the number of patients who used probes were 0-5 in 48.65% of the endoscopy centers every day; 83.78% of the hospitals cleaned and disinfected endoscopic ultrasound probes by specially-assigned persons, mainly were nurses (51.35%); the main cleaning method was enzyme washing-scrubbing-drying (89.19%), most cleaning time was more than 1 minutes (62.16%); 83.78% of the hospitals disinfected endoscopic ultrasound probes through chemical disinfectant immersion, most of which were O-phthalaldehyde immersion (70.27%) and total immersion (48.65%); most disinfection time was ≥ 5 minutes (56.76%); 27.03% of the hospitals sterilized the endoscopic ultrasound probes, 21.62% of which sterilized probe each time after one patient used and 10.81% of which adopted peracetic acid immersion for 10 minutes; 56.76% of the hospitals placed disinfected and sterilized endoscopic ultrasound probes in endoscopic sto-rage cabinet; 78.38% of the hospitals re-disinfected endoscopic ultrasound probes on the day to be used; 56.76% of the hospitals had never monitored the disinfection efficacy of the disinfected probes. Conclusion There are some differences in the cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization of endoscopic probes in 37 hospitals, it is suggested that the national standards for cleaning and disinfection of endoscopic probes should be formulated as soon as possible to standardize the cleaning and disinfection process of endoscopic probes.