A system is provided that furnishes expert procedural guidance based uponpatient-specific data gained from surgical instruments incorporating sensorson the instrument's working surface, one or more reference sensors placedabout the patient, sensors implanted before, during or after the procedure,the patient's personal medical history, and patient status monitoringequipment. Embodiments include a system having a surgical instrument with asensor for generating a signal indicative of a property of a subject tissue ofthe patient, which signal is converted into a current dataset and stored. Aprocessor compares the current dataset with other previously stored datasets,and uses the comparison to assess a physical condition of the subject tissueand/or to guide a procedure being performed on the tissue.
