Foreign Body Identifier
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A surgical instrument for the presence and/or location of a foreign body is disclosed. The surgical instrument is hand-held. In some embodiments, the surgical instrument includes transducers adapted for emitting and/or receiving signals. In such embodiments, the surgical instrument utilizes pulse-echo measurements to determine characteristics and/or location of the foreign body. In other embodiments, the surgical instrument includes a measurement circuit for detecting the presence and/or location of a foreign body by a change in the characteristics of the measurement circuit. The surgical instrument may be utilized to determine such things as the size of a foreign body, the orientation of a foreign body with respect to patient anatomy and/or another foreign body, and whether the foreign body has been completely removed.
75 Citations
73 Claims
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1-30. -30. (canceled)
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31. A handheld surgical instrument for use in detecting a foreign body within a tissue, comprising:
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a housing having a proximal portion, a distal portion, and a longitudinal axis extending therebetween; a gripping portion positioned adjacent the proximal portion and adapted for grasping by a user; a sensor circuit positioned within the distal portion, the sensor circuit configured such that a characteristic of the sensor circuit is modified by a proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit; a processor for determining a position of the foreign body based on a value of the characteristic of the sensor circuit that is modified by the proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit. - View Dependent Claims (32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53)
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54. A method of detecting a foreign body within a tissue, comprising:
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providing a hand-held device having a sensor circuit and a processor, the sensor circuit configured such that a characteristic of the sensor circuit is affected by a proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit, the processor for determining a position of the foreign body based on the value of the characteristic of the sensor circuit affected by the proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit; positioning the hand-held device adjacent the tissue; monitoring the characteristic of the sensor circuit affected by the proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit; producing an alert in response to a change in the characteristic of the sensor circuit indicative of the presence of the foreign body; and determining the position of the detected foreign body within the tissue based on the value of the characteristic of the sensor circuit affected by the proximity of the foreign body to the sensor circuit. - View Dependent Claims (55, 56)
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64. A handheld surgical instrument for use in detecting a foreign body within a tissue, comprising:
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a housing having an external gripping portion and a sensor portion having a conductive surface, the sensor portion adapted to be in conductive contact with a surface of the tissue; an energy source adapted for emitting an energy signal into the tissue, the energy signal configured to pass through the tissue and at least partially reflect off a boundary between the foreign body and the tissue; a sensor adapted for detecting the reflected signal; and a processor for determining a characteristic of the foreign body based on the reflected signal; wherein the characteristic of the foreign body determined by the signal processor includes a material attribute of the foreign body. - View Dependent Claims (65, 66, 67)
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68. A handheld surgical instrument for use in detecting a foreign body within a tissue, comprising:
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a sensing means for monitoring a proximity of the foreign body to the sensing means; a processing means for determining a position of the foreign body within the tissue based on the proximity of the foreign body to the sensing means; a housing means for containing the sensing means and the processing means; and a gripping means for grasping by a user. - View Dependent Claims (69, 70, 71, 72, 73)
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Specification