Design of osteosynthesis plate for detecting bone union using wire natural frequency

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomedical Instrumentation

Background:

• Assessing bone union after osteosynthesis is crucial for patient recovery.
• Current methods for detecting bone union can be subjective or invasive.
• Quantitative, objective methods for monitoring bone healing are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel osteosynthesis plate capable of quantitatively detecting bone union.
• To assess the feasibility of using bone union detection using a wire's natural frequency (BUDWF) for fracture healing assessment.

Main Methods:

• A modified Syncera ADLER B0409.10 osteosynthesis plate was developed with an integrated sound generation mechanism.
• A 0.3 mm diameter 316L stainless steel wire was attached to the plate, and its natural frequency was measured via sound.
• Preliminary experiments were conducted on Sawbones tibia composite mimics with fracture gaps of 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 mm, and uncut samples representing union.

Main Results:

• The BUDWF system demonstrated statistically significant differences in the rate of frequency change between samples with fracture gaps greater than 2 mm and union samples.
• The BUDWF method successfully differentiated between bone samples with larger fracture gaps and those considered healed.
• A limitation was observed in differentiating between a 0 mm fracture gap and a fully unionized sample.

Conclusions:

• The developed BUDWF osteosynthesis plate shows promise as a quantitative tool for assessing bone union in orthopedic applications.
• BUDWF can effectively distinguish significant bone gaps from healed bone, potentially improving post-operative monitoring.
• Further refinement is needed to improve the system's ability to differentiate complete bone union from non-unions with minimal gaps.