Surgical sponge detection system

Detection and prevention of retained surgical sponges in patients

Detection of surgical sponges. Why?

A large problem in the area of patient safety is retained materials inside the patient's body after they have left the OR. In 70-80% of these cases it concerns surgical sponges. To prevent this situation from happening, OR staff uses a counting procedure, which means that the sponges, gauzes and towels are manually counted.

Despite this extensive procedure, it occurs that the count is incorrect.
The consequences are costly, time consuming and moreover burdensome for both the hospital and the patient. In case of an incorrect count, the OR needs to be searched, an X-ray has to be made and a recount has to take place in order to retrieve the surgical sponge. Moreover there is an increased risk at a surgical site infection. The outlined situation is undesirable for both medical staff and patients. If it occurs that the sponges are not detected and are left behind in the patients, the consequences often include multiple revision surgeries and avoidable patient suffering.

However, the situation where the count is assumed to be correct, but there is a retained material present in the patient, this results in an even more hazardous situation.

 Studies indicate this breach in patient safety occurs in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries. The risk of a retained sponge incident is highest in trauma, emergency and after hours surgeries, cases of long duration, high volume blood loss or with high BMI patients.

The RF Surgical Detection System

The RF Surgical Detection System provides a solution to this problem.  By means of this easy to use system, OR staff can exclude sponges being left inside of the body of the patient. The system consists of a monitor box, a wand in a sterile cover and sponges with RF-tags. A retained sponge can easily be traced: Both a visual and audible signal immediately inform the user when the scanner detects the presence of any retained object fitted with a tag.

The benefits of the RF Surgical Detection System:

In brief, it can be said that this system saves time, provides confidence for the OR staff and is highly reliable. The RF Surgical Detection System allows early detection of missing items, lowering the amount of unnecessary X-rays and associated prolonged anaesthesia time. The burdensome consequences of a retained surgical sponge are avoided and most importantly patient safety will improve. 

Within 30 - 45 seconds, the scan provides a final answer. Research has shown 100% accuracy and the absence of false positive and false negative results. Implementation of the surgical detection system results in a higher level of efficiency and safety.

Soon the University Medical Centre Leiden (LUMC) starts a two month pilot project with the RF Surgical Detection System. Part of this pilot involves scientific research carried out by professors of the LUMC.

The company 3M has expressed the intention to include the sponges with RF tags in their Custom Procedure Trays (CPT’s), for thorax and laparotomy. In such operations there is an increased risk on retained sponges or gauzes. CPT’s are sterile packages that contain a measured amount of disposables, so the OR-staff does not have to collect and prepare materials for each operation themselves. The integration with the CPT ensures that sponges with RF tags are easily accessible and available 

For further information, a product demonstration or a trial period of the surgical detection system, please contact NewCompliance.