Johnson & Johnson Medical Gmbh

Stephen Papp, Jr

Thomas Denny

John Dyer

Woven and nonwoven fabrics for use in surgical procedures are printed with a radiopaque polymeric composition which bonds to the surface of the fabric. The composition is applied in a visually distinctive pattern, or may assume the pattern of the underlying fabric. The polymeric composition is readily recognized in an X-ray image and provides an improved means for detecting a surgical sponge inadvertently left in a patient. Preferred compositions are latex or plastisols of a printable viscosity containing from 15 to 70% by weight BaSO.sub.4 having a particle size greater than about 5 microns.

Surgical fabric with printed X-ray marker

A radiopaque, polymeric composition suitable for printing onto surgical fabrics to provide an X-ray detectable marker is obtained by dispersing a heavy metal salt such as barium sulfate in a liquid polymer carrier. The barium sulfate has an average particle size greater than about 5 microns and is present in an amount of from about 15 to 90% by weight of total solids of said composition.

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Edison, NJ, United States of America

Stephen Papp, Jr