Class 1 and 2 medical device recalls

Question

How can I structure a question on the FDA OpenApp that will return all Class 1 and 2 medical device recalls for radiation therapy devices over a certain period (e.g. the month of June 2014)?

Answer 1

The short answer is as follows (here is a clickable link though) which searches for recalls initiated during June 2012, that were classified as Class I or Class II, and had the word "radiation" somewhere in the recall documentation.

https://api.fda.gov/device/enforcement.json?search=radiation+AND+classification:("Class+I"+OR+"Class+II")+AND+recall_initiation_date:[2012-06-01+TO+2012-06-30]&limit=100

There are a number of caveats to keep in mind though:

• This query relies on "radiation" being included in one or more of the fields listed at https://open.fda.gov/device/enforcement/reference/ such as product_description but there is absolutely no guarantee radiation drugs will mention that keyword.
• This query also relies on recall_initiation_date be present which appears to only be there for 59% of all the device enforcement reports available in the API (4639 of the 7855). Note that field report_date seems to have 100% coverage. Maybe the recall_initiation_date field is only available after a certain date? More digging needs to be done to make that call.