Surgical Instruments Gain Electronic Serial Numbers

An industrial technology has abolished production-related restrictions on surgical instruments, permitting them to be manufactured with additional customized functions, such as radio frequency identification (RFID).

Adapted to medical needs by researchers at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft (Munich, Germany), the technology, known as laser melting, enables the manufacture of surgical instruments of any shape, even those with complex interiors such as channels or cavities, or those with integrated RFID chips. Originally developed for the production of industrial prototypes, laser-welding manufacturing uses an extremely fine laser beam to sinter powdered metallic materials into almost any desired form, depositing one layer of material at a time.


Laser melting is a mature technology, which has two major advantages; first, unlike drilling or milling, hardly any material is wasted; and second, there are no production-related restrictions on the shape or interior structure of the instrument. For surgical instruments, either cobalt-chromium (CoCr) steel or titanium powders could be used -- both are standard materials in generative manufacturing. A three-dimensional (3D) model on a computer is the only template needed, and intermediate stages, including the production of special tools or casting molds, are eliminated.

A further advantage is that steel components that are produced using laser melting technology demonstrate particular electrical properties. Normally, metals shield against electromagnetic radiation such as radio waves, so whenever an RFID chip is cast in metal, a small opening must be left above it, otherwise it will not be readable. But this is not necessary with laser-melted instruments; even though they are completely shrouded in metal, the integrated RFID chips are still able to transmit and receive over short distances. This is advantageous in the operating room, since after every operation, all surgical instruments have to be cleaned, sterilized, and counted; if they have integrated RFID chips, quantities and individual numerical codes could be checked quickly and easily and could be electronically linked to the operation report or to specific instrument data such as date of manufacture, protocols for use, or current state of cleanliness.

"Until now, it has always been time-consuming and expensive to manufacture surgical instruments featuring this kind of channel,” said Claus Aumund-Kopp, of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials (IFAM; Bremen, Germany). "Because it is nigh-on impossible to machine curved channels, shaped tubes have traditionally had to be cast, or else welded or soldered retrospectively.”

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Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials