Claims
- 1. A medical instrument for use in a system for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, said medical instrument comprising:
- receiving means for releasably receiving a removable position detection unit for use in monitoring the position of said medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, and
- identification means for distinguishing said medical instrument from other medical instruments to which said position detection unit may be releasably attached.
- 2. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said identification means includes at least one magnetic element on said medical instrument and said position detection unit includes at least one magnetic field sensor, wherein at least some of said magnetic elements and magnetic field sensors mutually align when said position detection unit is received by said medical instrument.
- 3. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 1, wherein said position detection unit includes an electromagnetic signal receiver for receiving three alternating orthogonally disposed electromagnetic fields.
- 4. A medical instrument for use in a system for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, said medical instrument comprising:
- receiving means for releasably receiving a removable position detection unit for use in monitoring the position of said medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, said position detection unit including an electromagnetic signal receiver for receiving three alternating orthogonally disposed electromagnetic fields; and
- identification means for distinguishing said medical instrument from other medical instruments to which said position detection unit may be releasably attached, said identification means including at least one magnetic element on said medical instrument.
- 5. A medical instrument for use in a system for monitoring the position of a medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, said medical instrument comprising:
- position detection means for monitoring the position of said medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery, and
- releasable attachment means for releasably securing said position detection means to said medical instrument.
- 6. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein said position detection means includes a sensor for sensing a three dimensional position characteristic field.
- 7. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein said position detection means further permits the monitoring of the position of said medical instrument with respect to a patient during surgery irrespective of the position of said patent in an operating environment.
- 8. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein said position detection means includes two sensors for sensing a three dimensional position characteristic field.
- 9. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein said position detection means includes an electromagnetic field sensor.
- 10. A medical instrument as claimed in claim 5, wherein said medical instrument further includes an identification means for distinguishing said medical instrument from other medical instruments to which said position detection unit may be releasably attached.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation-in-part of copending application Ser. No. 08/306,818 filed on Sep. 15, 1994.
US Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Name |
Date |
Kind |
4256112 |
Kopf et al. |
Mar 1981 |
|
5207688 |
Carol |
May 1993 |
|
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2 164856 |
Apr 1986 |
GBX |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
306818 |
Sep 1994 |
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