Device For The Detection Of Metallic Surgical Articles And Harmonic And RFID Tagging Markers

摘要

The present invention provides a method of detection of metallic items and/or metallic surgical instruments or articles by a detection device in the event that such articles have been retained in a patient after a surgical procedure. More specifically, the invention relates to a detection system that uses (1) a metal detector or (2) a detector for harmonic-generating amorphous or non-amorphous metallic tags together with three-dimensional spatial position measurement to determine if a foreign metallic article has been retained in the body and if so, to determine the article's location. The invention scans the patient pre- and post-operatively, evaluating three-dimensional differences in electronic response to account for other nearby metallic objects not related to the retained metallic article, thereby determining by inference whether the post-operative electronic response results from presence of a retained article.

主权项

1. An improvement to detection systems used to discover retained foreign metallic objects in surgery, comprising
a) A metal detector, and b) A system to perform accurate measurement of the spatial position of the metal detector as it is used to scan over the surgical patient before and after surgery, and c) Means for recording the position and metal detection data for the scans made before and after surgery, and d) Means for combining the recorded metal detection data to compute the difference between the detection data taken after surgery and the data taken before surgery, and e) Means for display of results of the computations of (d) as an image projected onto the scanned area of the patient to display areas where presence of a retained foreign metallic body is suspected as a result of the detection scans of (b). f) Means for display of results of the computations of (d) as an image of the detection map upon a printer or graphic display panel.