Patent ID: 7307530

Claim:
A surgical implement detector system, comprising: a. a non battery-powered, radio-frequency marker encapsulated in a glass envelope and attached to a surgical implement designated for use in a surface of a surgical procedure, said surgical implement being a metallic surgical instrument and said radio-frequency marker being displaced from said surface of said surgical instrument using a non-metallic fastener thereby preventing signal interfering effect from the metallic surgical implement; b. remote detector unit having an interrogating antenna that communicates with and powers the said radio-frequency marker using a carrier frequency; c. said radio-frequency marker comprising an integrated circuit comprising a read-only memory having a burnt-in code that is powered by a capacitor; d. said capacitor being charged by said interrogating antenna and coupling to a second antenna located within the radio-frequency marker to provide power thereto; e. said radio-frequency marker broadcasting said code through said radio-frequency antenna using a modulated carrier frequency, which is received by said interrogating antenna; f. said detector unit decoding said modulated carrier frequency and detecting said code, thereby identifying a surgical implement to which a radio-frequency marker is attached; whereby scanning a surgical wound using said remote detector interrogating antenna during and after an operating procedure detects the location and identity of surgical implements present within a surgical wound.