Sponge tagging tech gets $8m boost
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
RF Surgical Systems has secured $8.2m in series A financing to expand US commercialisation of its surgical sponge detection system. The new capital, provided by lead investor Menlo Ventures, and Stanford University, brings the total investment received by the Bellevue, Washington company to $12m in 2008, and $20m since it was founded. The firm's sponge detection system, the only one of its kind available in the worldwide market, is used to track RF's tagged surgical sponges, gauze and towels and alert the surgeons if these products remain in the patient prior to the incision being closed. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, surgical sponges are accidentally left inside the patient in one in every 1,000-1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries.