United Press International reports today that ClearCount Medical has received FDA approval "to sell a radio-frequency-based, sponge-counting system to prevent sponges being left in patients."

"The company said the SmartSponge System is the first such system to use radio frequency identification technology where RFID tags 'smaller than a dime' are attached to each sponge so surgeons can track them," the article states.

The risk of surgical sponges being left inside patients after surgery is a serious issue. "With an estimated 3,000 to 5,000 incidents a year, retained surgical sponges are a considerable problem," says ClearCount CEO David Palmer (not this David Palmer, methinks...). "The SmartSponge system can improve patient safety and efficiency by alerting staff when there is a missing sponge."

The press release is here.