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Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuitsTracking surgical implements with integrated circuits description/claimsThe Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20080007411, Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/048,339, filed Jan. 31, 2005, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/106,183, filed Mar 27, 2002 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,861,954, which is a continuation-in-part application of abandoned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/883,991, filed Jun. 20, 2001, which claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/280,206, filed Mar. 30, 2001. FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0002] The present invention relates to devices, labels, methods, and systems to monitor and track medical implements and products containing integrated circuits. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention relate to preventing these medical implements from being inadvertently left within a human or animal following completion of medical procedures. In addition, embodiments of the present invention are meant to decrease errors resulting from sub-optimal production, processing, distribution, and administration of medical products, including but not limited to pharmaceuticals and blood products. Embodiments of the present invention also pertain to managing medical products, medical devices and disposables, such as medications, blood, and tissue products, and more particularly to the use of electronic means such as radio frequency identification (RF ID) devices to assist in the management process from point of origin to end use. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] During surgery it is necessary to place surgical implements, such as sponges, scalpels, needles, gauzes, and the like near or into a wound cavity. Even though thorough manual counts are conducted following the completion of surgery, this method is time consuming, tedious and error prone. Indeed, surgical implements are too frequently left inside patients resulting in complications including trauma, pain, infection or death. [0004] A number of conventional methods exist to make sure that all surgical implements have been removed from a patient, but all have drawbacks. The most well known method is to use X-rays. In this procedure, the surgical implements have radio opaque material embedded within them. Following the completion of surgery and suturing of the patient, an X-ray machine is moved over the patient and an X-ray is taken of the wound area to determine whether radio opaque materials are present in the patient. However, some materials may be too small to be easily seen on X-ray, or they may be otherwise obscured by bone or tissues within radio dense areas. If any surgical implements are found on the X-ray within the sutured area, then the patient is reopened to retrieve the retained materials. This way, implements left within a patient are removed. However, each time this procedure is performed, expensive operating room time is wasted and other patients may have their surgeries delayed. Furthermore, the patient is subjected to more anesthesia time and otherwise unnecessary radiation. [0005] Another method suggested by U.S. Pat. No. 4,193,405 to Abels, detects a radio-frequency ("RF") transponder embedded in a surgical sponge. In this method, tagging of surgical articles with ferrite or other semiconductor material is done such that when they are exposed to two selected frequencies the material will resonate. This resonance can then be detected by a RF receiver. However, this method merely relates to a transponder, no data is recorded as to type of object, time rank of object, nor does it allow for master categorization which would alert the user that an object is in fact missing, even in the absence of a detected failure. Hence, this level of safety is easily breached. [0006] In U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,818 to Miller, a miniature battery-powered oscillator is attached to each surgical implement and activated prior to its initial use. The output of each oscillator is in the form of a low powered pulse which is coupled to the body's fluids and tissue. After the surgery is completed, but prior to suturing, a detection system is used to sense for any pulses generated within the body. However, this system also does not provide information as to object type, rank timing or master categorization, and merely serves as a pulse alarm. [0007] Another system that has recently been devised is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,824 to Stewart. This system is drawn to placing machine-readable information on individual surgical sponges. In addition, each sponge has X-ray detectable material embedded within it. This system requires that each sponge is scanned which is tedious, and allows for neither non-orientational registration nor perimeter scanning. [0008] Additionally, sub-optimal logistics result in medication and other errors, which have resulted in significant morbidity and mortality. [0009] Furthermore, tracking and distributing medications and blood or tissue products from their points of origin to their appropriate administration to patients requires a very major commitment of dedicated resources to maintain acceptable safety and efficiency. Unfortunately, commonly utilized methodologies can be expensive, wasteful, and potentially hazardous as they rely heavily on human input and require sustainable levels of efficiency that may be unrealistically high. As any breach of vigilance resulting from suboptimal visual or other input, stress, fatigue, repetition or distraction can have dire consequences at multiple points, risk exposure is significant. Medications may be poorly tracked leading to shortages in inventory or inappropriate use of outdated medications. Inappropriate formulations or concentrations of drug may be found in improper locations in the hospital, clinic or other patient care facility and this can result in improper dosing. [0010] Furthermore, allergies or other adverse medication reactions, as well as hazardous drug interactions may go unrecognized or ineffectively addressed by patient care providers or other ancillary medical staff. Blood product preparation is an expensive and complex endeavor and current procedures for tracking blood products at the point of collection through the point of distribution can be suboptimal. Additionally, the procedures can be subject to hazard as human error at several points can lead to fatalities. For example, one concern is the potential for busy clinicians to misread one or more of a series of numbers and letters on a patient ID bracelet or unit of packed red blood cells during a severe bleeding episode in an operating room. Hence, there is a need for effective and safe methodologies for tracking medications and blood and other tissue products from the point of production to the point of administration. [0011] A number of tracking devices have been well documented. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,130,613 shows a radio frequency identification stamp (10) having a substrate (24) with a first surface (12) and a second surface (18). The first surface (12) is printed with indicia indicating at least a postage value. An antenna (16) is formed on the second surface (18) and a radio frequency identification circuit chip (20) is secured to the second surface (18) and coupled to the antenna (16). A layer (22) of adhesive is also disposed on the second surface (18). A mailing label (600) includes indicia (614) printed on a first surface, and an antenna (616) coupled to a radio frequency identification circuit chip (620) on a second surface (618). A layer (622) of adhesive covers the second surface. The layer bonds the circuit chip (620) to the second surface and couples the circuit chip (620) to the antenna (616). The circuit chip (620) may retain a tracking number, and more preferably, retains sender information (601), recipient information (602), service type information (603) and billing instructions (604). SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0012] The present invention provides devices, methods, and systems that monitor and track medical materials, including surgical implements. [0013] In an embodiment of the present invention, a surgical implement including at least one integrated circuit that uniquely identifies the surgical implement by a unique identifier is provided. [0014] In another embodiment of the present invention, a method for monitoring and tracking surgical implements is provided. The method includes identifying at least one surgical implement including an integrated chip, where each surgical implement is uniquely identified. Another method of the present invention provides for monitoring and tracking medical materials. This method includes uniquely identifying at least one medical material by a unique identifier, each medical material including at least one integrated circuit having the unique identifier programmed therein and monitoring each medical material by its unique identifier. In another embodiment of the present invention, a method for monitoring surgical implements in conjunction with a surgical procedure is provided. The method includes initializing at least one surgical implement where each surgical implement includes an integrated circuit, registering the surgical implement prior to a surgical procedure by programming a unique identifier in the integrated circuit, and accounting for the surgical implement at the completion of the surgical procedure by receiving the unique identifier from the surgical instrument. [0015] The present invention also includes systems. In one embodiment of the present invention a system for monitoring and tracking surgical implements is provided. The system includes at least one surgical implement, each surgical implement including an integrated circuit that stores a unique identifier of the surgical instrument and a detector that detects the surgical implement by detecting the unique identifier from the integrated circuit. Another embodiment of the present invention includes a system for monitoring and tracking surgical implements including at least one surgical implements, including at least one integrated circuit and a sensor for sensing the surgical implements based on a signal received from each integrated circuit. In another embodiment of the present invention, a system for monitoring surgical implements used in conjunction with a surgical procedure is provided. This system includes at least one surgical implement comprising an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit associating a unique identifier with each of the surgical implements and emitting a signal containing the unique identifier, a detector that detects the signal emitted by the surgical implement, and an output device to process information provided by the detector. The present invention also provides another embodiment of a system, including at least one surgical implement comprising an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit associating a unique identifier with each of the surgical implements and emitting a signal containing the unique identifier, a platform with a detector that detects the signal and determines a placement and removal of each of the surgical implements from the platform based on the detected signal, and an output device that receives and processes information provided by the detector. Another embodiment of the present invention provides a system for monitoring patients including at least one medical material, each medical material including a first integrated circuit, at least one patient identification tag, each patient identification tag including a second integrated circuit, and a sensor that monitors the medical materials and patient identification tags based on signals received from the first and second integrated circuits. [0016] The present invention also provides a medical label including at least one integrated circuit, where the integrated circuit uniquely identifies a medical product the medical label is attached to. In another embodiment of the present invention, a blood product label is provided, which includes a label attached to a blood product, the label including at least one integrated circuit that uniquely identifies the blood product. The present invention also provides a blood product container including the blood product label. Finally, the present invention provides medical product including at least one integrated circuit that uniquely identifies the medical product by a unique identifier. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0017] FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the sensor system and two integrated circuits to be used in surgical implements. [0018] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the sensor system and two integrated circuits to be used in surgical implements. [0019] FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of a database table for the sensor system. Continue reading about Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits... Full patent description for Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: System and method for obtaining information from objects provided with bar codes and rfid tags Next Patent Application: Wireless tag reading/writing apparatus, communication method for the wireless tag reading/writing apparatus and wireless tag relating to the communication method Industry Class: Communications: electrical ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Tracking surgical implements with integrated circuits patent info. IP-related news and info Results in 0.11897 seconds Other interesting Feshpatents.com categories: Computers: Graphics , I/O , Processors , Dyn. Storage , Static Storage , Printers 174 |
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