Making minimally invasive procedures more sustainable: A systematic review comparing the environmental footprint of single-use versus multi-use instruments.

Although our systematic review yielded mixed results, all high quality LCAs suggested multi-use instruments may be more environmentally friendly than their single-use counterparts. Our findings are limited by inter-study heterogeneity and methodological quality. There is an urgent need for additional research employing gold standard methodologies to explore the interplay between environmental impact and operational factors such as workflow efficiency and cost-benefit ratio to allow health systems to make more informed decisions.