Method and apparatus for implant identification
First Claim
1. A method for obtaining information concerning a surgical implant, comprising:
- presenting a subject having one or more surgical implants having affixed thereto at least one radio frequency identification tags into a radio frequency field of a reader device;
transmitting an interrogation signal from the reader device;
receiving the interrogation signal by the one or more radio frequency tagged surgical instruments;
transmitting back to the reader device, an RF signal containing data from the radio frequency tags of the one or more surgical implants; and
comparing the data received from the at least one radio frequency tag of the one or more surgical implants to a database.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for automatically identifying surgical implants by use of a radio-frequency tag (RFID) is disclosed. The method, apparatus, and system enable a radio-frequency tagged implant to receive an interrogation signal from a reader and to respond to the interrogation signal with identifying information about the tagged implants. The interrogation signal interrogates the implant to ascertain its information, and the RFID tag affixed on the implant in turn transmits a signal back to the reader. The method, apparatus, and system can track, inspect, and verify surgical implants, to assess, for example, any wear and tear on implants, and/or positional displacement of components of the implant.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A method for obtaining information concerning a surgical implant, comprising:
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presenting a subject having one or more surgical implants having affixed thereto at least one radio frequency identification tags into a radio frequency field of a reader device;
transmitting an interrogation signal from the reader device;
receiving the interrogation signal by the one or more radio frequency tagged surgical instruments;
transmitting back to the reader device, an RF signal containing data from the radio frequency tags of the one or more surgical implants; and
comparing the data received from the at least one radio frequency tag of the one or more surgical implants to a database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for obtaining information concerning an implant, comprising:
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acquiring positional information from a subject having one or more implants with at least one screw having an RFID-tag affixed thereto;
placing the subject in proximity to an RF reader;
acquiring current positional information of the RFID-tagged implant; and
comparing the current information of the RFID-tagged implant to the acquired positional information. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for obtaining information concerning the contents of an implant, comprising:
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one or more surgical implants tagged with one or more radio frequency identification tags;
a reader device capable of transmitting a signal to and receiving a signal from the one or more radio frequency identification tags a in a wireless radio frequency field;
a database connected to the reader device for storing information about the one or more surgical implants; and
a data decoder that compares data received by the reader device from the radio frequency identification tags of the one or more surgical implants to the database. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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28. An apparatus for obtaining information concerning the position of an orthopedic implant, comprising:
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one or more RFID-tagged screws positioned in one or more implants;
a calculator for acquiring positional information of the RFID-tagged implant;
a memory for storing positional information of the one or more RFID-tagged implants;
an RF reader placed in proximity to the one or more tagged implants for acquiring current positional data; and
a data decoder for comparing the current positional information of the RFID-tagged implant to data in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification