The prevention of retained surgical instruments currently requires a significant amount of labor in the surgery suite. The current state of the art is to assign surgical nurses to count sponges and instruments, which can allow human error. This is particularly true during long surgeries or if surgical personnel change during surgery. These errors can result in patient complications and liability costs.
This surgical sponge is specially designed to be detected during surgery to reduce the risk of a Retained Surgical Instrument. The design of the closed metal loops within the sponges increases the strength of the signal which is detectable in a magnetic field. Magnetic field detection produces less interference with operating room procedures and equipment than radiofrequency identification.