Validation of Impedance-Based Structural Health Monitoring in a Simulated Biomedical Implant System

Abstract

Total Knee Replacement (TKR) is an important and in-demand procedure for the aging population of the United States. In recent decades, the number of TKR procedures performed has shown an increase. This pattern is expected to continue in the coming decades. Despite medical advances in orthopedic surgery, a high number of patients, approximately 20%, are dissatisfied with their procedure outcomes. Common causes that are suggested for this dissatisfaction include loosening of the implant components as well as infection. To eliminate loosening as a cause, it is necessary to determine the state of the implant both intra- and post-operatively. Previous research has focused on passively sensing the compartmental loads between the femoral and tibial components. Common methods include using strain gauges or even piezoelectric transducers to measure force. An alternative to this is to perform real-time structural health monitoring (SHM) of the implant to determine changes in the state of the system. A commonly investigated method of SHM, referred to as the electromechanical impedance (EMI) method, involves using the coupled electromechanical properties of piezoelectric transducers to measure the host structure’s condition. The EMI method has already shown promise in aerospace and infrastructure applications, but has seen limited testing for use in the biomechanical field. This work is intended to validate the EMI method for use in detecting damage in cemented bone-implant interfaces, with TKR being used as a case study to specify certain experimental parameters. An experimental setup which represents the various material layers found in a bone-implant interface is created with various damage conditions to determine the ability for a piezoelectric sensor to detect and quantify the change in material state. The objective of this work is to provide validation as well as a foundation on which additional work in SHM of orthopedic implants and structures can be performed.

Bio-structural monitoring of bone mineral alterations through electromechanical impedance measurements of a Piezo-device joined to a tooth

“…For instance, Tabrizi et al [27] and Ribolla et al [28] used numerical models and experiments to demonstrate the viability of using piezo-transducers in a dental implant to evaluate the stability condition after insertion. Ponder et al [29] presents experimental tests where electrical impedance measurements are taken for assessing a bone-implant interaction that emulates a total knee replacement case. Results showed that the progressive induced damage on the implant was detected with the electrical sensitivity of the piezo transducers.…”

Investigation into machine learning with impedance SHM for damage detection and classification within simulated total knee replacements

“…The application of EMI to the medical field, however, has received less attention. Preliminary work in our research group demonstrated the EMI method to be effective toward detecting degradation of the cement interface in a geometrically simple system comprised of common TKR materials (Ghattas et al, 2019; Ponder et al, 2018). In a related set of works, Rizzo et al investigated the use of impedance SHM to assess the integrity of dental implant fixation (Boemio et al, 2011; Ribolla and Rizzo, 2015; Ribolla et al, 2015; Tabrizi et al, 2012).…”

Vibration Stimulation as a Non-Invasive Approach to Monitor the Severity of Meniscus Tears

“…Reduction in the shock absorption capacity of the knee as a result of meniscus tear and meniscectomy is also investigated as a non-invasive measure of the joint health [24]. Another application proposed for the vibration measurement is the osseointegration assessment of medical implants such as dental implants [25][26][27], cementless hip implants [28,29], and cemented total knee replacements [30,31] during and after surgery.…”