SurgiCount Medical, which has subsequently joined Patient Safety Technologies, both of Los Angeles, has designed the Safety-sponge System, which utilizes bar-coded sponges and is now available for testing. The 4" x 4" X-ray detectable gauze sponges and 18" x 18" X-Ray detectable laparotomy pads are manufactured in the same fashion as sponges currently used today. They contain the X-ray detectable strip that can identify a retained sponge on a plain X-ray. A unique bar code (data matrix code) has been securely affixed to each sponge. The datamatrix code with ECC200 error correction allows for accuracy up to 1 error in 10.5 million (worst case), 1 in 612.9 million (best case). FDA 510K exemption status for the bar coded sponge has already been secured by the manufacturer. The bar code detector (sponge counter) has been designed as a small handheld computer with a touchscreen display.