Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Medical Instruments Get Hyperlinked

Eventually every medical instrument will be wirelessly connected.

From AZom.com RFID chips track medical instruments

The same technology that prevents thefts in clothing stores could also help surgeons keep track of instruments and gauze sponges during medical procedures according to a preliminary study at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
In the study, researchers used tiny chips called radio frequency ID tags attached to surgical sponges to locate the sponges in the body before the operation ended.

The sponges I can see, because they are disposable. The midical instruments might be a different problem though. I think they might have a problem when they sterilize the medical instrument though with this specific tag.

For the study, Macario used sponges developed by ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc. in Pittsburgh that were rigged with a 20mm diameter radio-frequency ID chip.

Macario said that in the future he thinks RFID tags will track all surgical items and supplies throughout a surgery as they enter and leave a patient's body.

Anyone know what kind of RFID tag would work well in this situation?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

surface acoustic wave technology
Larry

Anonymous said...

It's U for me--

as in "u-Chip"