RF Surgical lands cash to ID medical sponges

Menlo Ventures and Stanford University are investing $8.2 million in RF Surgical Systems, a Bellevue startup developing a surgical sponge detection device. The technology -- already in use at hospitals in Virginia, Connecticut and California -- uses radio frequency ID tags to alert physicians if sponges, gauze or towels remain in a patient near the close of surgery. According to the The New England Journal of Medicine, health professionals leave sponges in the patient at a rate of one in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries. Founded by thoracic surgeon Jeffrey Port and electrical engineer William Blair, RF Surgical has raised more than $20 million. It will use the new funds to sell the RF Surgical Detection System in the U.S. and Europe. The system consists of a handheld scanner that is waved over a patient's body... [read full story]