Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations
Abstract Background Bone fractures represent a global public health issue. Over the past few decades, a sustained increase in the number of incidents and prevalent cases have been reported, as well as in the years lived with disability. Current monitoring techniques predominantly rely on imaging met...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-025-05534-4 |
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| author | Diogo G. Pires Nuno M. Silva A. Completo Marco P. Soares dos Santos |
| author_facet | Diogo G. Pires Nuno M. Silva A. Completo Marco P. Soares dos Santos |
| author_sort | Diogo G. Pires |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Bone fractures represent a global public health issue. Over the past few decades, a sustained increase in the number of incidents and prevalent cases have been reported, as well as in the years lived with disability. Current monitoring techniques predominantly rely on imaging methods, which can result in subjective assessments, and expose patients to unnecessary cumulative doses of radiation. Besides, they are costly and incapable of providing continuous daily detection of fracture healing stages. Technological advances are still required to design fixation systems with the ability to minimize the risk of delayed healing and nonunion conditions for timely medical intervention, such that preventive procedures can be provided. This work proposes. Methods An innovative bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate, minimally customized from a fixation device used in clinical practice, was developed to monitor the bone-implant interface to effectively detect the progression of bone fractures stages. Our technology includes a network-architectured capacitive interdigitated system, a Bluetooth module, an analog-to-digital converter, a multiplexer, a microcontroller, and a miniaturized battery. Results Both experimental tests with biological tissues and numerical simulations show strong evidence that this bioelectronic implant is able: (i) to detect the four distinct bone healing stages, with capacitance decreases throughout the healing process; and (ii) to monitor the callus formation across multiple target regions. Conclusions This work provides a significant contribution to the design of bioelectronic implant technologies for highly personalized sensing of biointerfaces. Our bioelectronic fixation implant supports faster fracture healing, mainly for delayed healing and non-union conditions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-32cb2231bcd34aaa95ba95c2210561bd |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1749-799X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-32cb2231bcd34aaa95ba95c2210561bd2025-02-02T12:34:02ZengBMCJournal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research1749-799X2025-01-0120111710.1186/s13018-025-05534-4Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variationsDiogo G. Pires0Nuno M. Silva1A. Completo2Marco P. Soares dos Santos3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Technology & Automation (TEMA), University of AveiroDepartment of Engineering, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto DouroDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Technology & Automation (TEMA), University of AveiroDepartment of Mechanical Engineering, Centre for Mechanical Technology & Automation (TEMA), University of AveiroAbstract Background Bone fractures represent a global public health issue. Over the past few decades, a sustained increase in the number of incidents and prevalent cases have been reported, as well as in the years lived with disability. Current monitoring techniques predominantly rely on imaging methods, which can result in subjective assessments, and expose patients to unnecessary cumulative doses of radiation. Besides, they are costly and incapable of providing continuous daily detection of fracture healing stages. Technological advances are still required to design fixation systems with the ability to minimize the risk of delayed healing and nonunion conditions for timely medical intervention, such that preventive procedures can be provided. This work proposes. Methods An innovative bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate, minimally customized from a fixation device used in clinical practice, was developed to monitor the bone-implant interface to effectively detect the progression of bone fractures stages. Our technology includes a network-architectured capacitive interdigitated system, a Bluetooth module, an analog-to-digital converter, a multiplexer, a microcontroller, and a miniaturized battery. Results Both experimental tests with biological tissues and numerical simulations show strong evidence that this bioelectronic implant is able: (i) to detect the four distinct bone healing stages, with capacitance decreases throughout the healing process; and (ii) to monitor the callus formation across multiple target regions. Conclusions This work provides a significant contribution to the design of bioelectronic implant technologies for highly personalized sensing of biointerfaces. Our bioelectronic fixation implant supports faster fracture healing, mainly for delayed healing and non-union conditions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-025-05534-4Instrumented implantBone fracture healingBioelectronic implantsCapacitive sensingHealing monitoring |
| spellingShingle | Diogo G. Pires Nuno M. Silva A. Completo Marco P. Soares dos Santos Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research Instrumented implant Bone fracture healing Bioelectronic implants Capacitive sensing Healing monitoring |
| title | Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| title_full | Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| title_fullStr | Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| title_short | Bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| title_sort | bioelectronic osteosynthesis plate to monitor the fracture bone healing using electric capacitive variations |
| topic | Instrumented implant Bone fracture healing Bioelectronic implants Capacitive sensing Healing monitoring |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s13018-025-05534-4 |
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