Animal Trial at Stanford Health System

Objective: Learn if surgeons with minimal training on the Melzi Sharps Finder can utilize it to find needles hidden by another surgeon.

Method: One surgeon would hide a needle in the abdominal area of a porcine. The other surgeon with minimal device training* will try to find laparoscopically.

Results: It took about 2.5 minutes to find it. The surgeon learned quickly that putting the device near the grasper would trigger a signal, therefore, she figured the distance needed to keep the sensing accurate. Ultimately, she appreciates how using the Melzi Sharps Finder helped significantly narrow the area of search and time spent on searching.

*Training – the surgeon was only told two things:

(1) The device senses the change in the magnetic field

(2) There is a dial to increase and decrease sensitivity.

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