Saftey provisions for surgical tools and mri
First Claim
1. An apparatus for inhibiting surgical tools from being brought into proximity with an MRI scanner, the apparatus comprising:
- sensing means for sensing whether each of a plurality of surgical instruments has been positioned in a preselected location;
a means for determining whether all surgical instruments have been returned to their preselected locations and issuing a signal indicative thereof.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
A subject on a pallet (22) undergoes a surgical procedure in the vicinity of an MR scanner using non-MRI compatible instruments (40) from a tray (42). The procedure may, for example, insert a catheter which is MRI compatible. After the procedure, the pallet (22) is transferred by a transfer gurney (26′) or a drive (122) and moved across a 5 Gauss line (32) and into an imaging region (30) of an MRI scanner (12). To be sure that none of the non-MRI compatible instruments crosses the 5 Gauss line (32), a circuit (50) senses whether all of the instruments have been repositioned at their preselected locations in the tray (42). The circuit (50) controls one of a light (60) which indicates whether or not it is safe to cross the 5 Gauss line, prevents brakes on the movable transport gantry (26) from being released, prevents a pallet manipulating mechanism (24) from transferring the pallet to the transport gantry, or prevents the transport gantry from being released from its docking position with the manipulating mechanism (24).
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. An apparatus for inhibiting surgical tools from being brought into proximity with an MRI scanner, the apparatus comprising:
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sensing means for sensing whether each of a plurality of surgical instruments has been positioned in a preselected location;
a means for determining whether all surgical instruments have been returned to their preselected locations and issuing a signal indicative thereof. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method of inhibiting surgical tools from being brought into proximity with an MRI scanner, the method comprising:
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determining whether each of a set of medical instruments has been returned to a preselected location;
determining whether all of the medical instruments have been returned to the preselected location. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification