Method and apparatus for surgical instrument identification
First Claim
1. A method for identifying surgical instruments, comprising:
- programming at least one RF identification tag with identification information corresponding to a surgical instrument physically associating the least one radio frequency identification tag with at least one surgical instrument;
presenting the at least one surgical instrument into a wireless radio frequency field of a reader device;
receiving with the reading device an RF data signal from the at least one radio frequency tagged surgical instruments containing the identification information;
comparing the data from the at least one radio frequency tagged surgical instruments to previously stored information in a database.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods for identifying surgical instruments by use of radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) are disclosed. In the systems and methods, each of a plurality of surgical instruments is provided with at least one RFID transponder tag storing identification information associated with the corresponding instrument. The tag may be adhered to, embedded, or potted within a portion of the instrument. Using an RFID reading device, a user may interrogate the tag, thereby identifying the particular instrument. This identification information may be used to index a database and retrieve a data record unique to that instrument. The systems and methods allow a user to track, inspect, and verify inbound and outbound surgical instruments, to assess, for example, the surgical instruments'"'"' duty life cycle usage.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A method for identifying surgical instruments, comprising:
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programming at least one RF identification tag with identification information corresponding to a surgical instrument physically associating the least one radio frequency identification tag with at least one surgical instrument;
presenting the at least one surgical instrument into a wireless radio frequency field of a reader device;
receiving with the reading device an RF data signal from the at least one radio frequency tagged surgical instruments containing the identification information;
comparing the data from the at least one radio frequency tagged surgical instruments to previously stored information in a database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for determining the contents of a surgical instrument tray, comprising:
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a surgical instrument tray having at least one surgical instrument, each at least one surgical instrument comprising an RFID transponder tag having identification information corresponding to the at least one surgical instrument stored in a memory therein;
a reader device that, when placed in proximity to the at least one instrument, generates an RF field of sufficient strength to cause the RFID transponder tag to emit a signal containing at least some of its stored identification information, the signal being received by the reader device; and
a database coupled to the reader device for storing information corresponding to the identification information read by the reader device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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Specification