'The Ortho-Tag system consists of a small radio-frequency identification (RFID) chip, and a handheld receiving probe. The chip would be loaded up with information that future health care providers might need to know, then attached to the prosthesis prior to implantation. Sensors on the chip would also measure pressure on the implant, the chemical balance and temperature of the surrounding tissue, and would indicate if harmful organisms were present.

Down the road, when a doctor wanted to know more about a patient's prosthesis, they could just hold one of the probes against the patient's skin, adjacent to their implant. Because the chip emits a wavelength specially designed to travel through human tissue, data transmitted from it would be picked up by the probe, then displayed on a computer screen.'

Read more: Wireless Chips and Probes Could Monitor Orthopedic Implants