Wireless microfluidic force sensors for orthopaedic surgery and telemetry

全球正在进行的髋关节置换手术的数量正在显著增加。人口老龄化意味着髋关节置换术的数量正在增加，失败的数量也在增加，这给公共卫生基础设施带来了巨大的压力。与此同时，生活方式的变化导致了这些手术现在在更年轻的患者队列中进行，植入物的典型寿命主要是由于佩戴而延长到15到20年。这种磨损和过早种植失败的一个主要原因是由于不适当的定位而导致的偏心负荷，这进一步需要昂贵和困难的翻修手术。目前，由于没有客观的方法来测量髋部的力来指导植入物的最佳定位，因此植入物的定位是使用解剖地标进行的，严重依赖于外科医生的技能。这项建议旨在通过提供无线、可植入和可适应的力传感器来解决这一未得到满足的临床需求，这些传感器可以集成到当前的髋关节置换假体中，以便在手术期间从关节提供准确的力读数，从而将失败率降至最低，并改善患者的预后和护理。这将通过PI最近首创的基于微流控的新型电容力传感技术来实现。这些力传感器柔软且生物兼容，可以在有限的空间和具有挑战性的髋关节机械环境中工作。然而，这些传感器目前必须物理连接到外部数据采集模块。这种布置不适合在外科环境中使用。因此，迫切需要使这些传感器具有无线功能，以便与外科实践相兼容。该项目的目标是将无线遥测技术集成到我们的术中力量传感器中，从而使我们的技术能够获得监管部门的批准，并使我们更接近首次人体试验。

The number of hip replacements being performed globally is increasing significantly. An ageing population means that the number of hip arthroplasties is increasing, as is the number of failures, putting a great strain on public health infrastructure. At the same time, lifestyle changes have led to these procedures now being performed in a much younger cohort of patients, with typical lifespans of implants being 15 to 20 years primarily due to wear. A major cause for this wear and premature implant failure is eccentric loading due to inappropriate positioning which further necessitates expensive and difficult revision surgery. Currently, implant positioning is performed using anatomical landmarks, relying heavily on the surgeon's skill, as there is no objective method of measuring the forces in the hip to guide the optimal positioning of the implant. This proposal is aimed at solving this unmet clinical need by delivering wireless, implantable and conformable force sensors that can be integrated within current hip replacement prostheses to give accurate force readings from the joint during surgery, in order to minimize failure rates and improve patient outcome and care. This will be achieved through a novel microfluidic-based capacitive force sensing technology recently pioneered by the PI. These force sensors are soft and biocompatible, and they can operate in the limited space and challenging mechanical environment of the hip joint. However, these sensors currently have to be physically wired to external data acquisition modules. This arrangement is not optimal for use in a surgical setting. Therefore, there is an urgent need to make these sensors wireless in order to be compatible with surgical practice. The goal of this project is to incorporate wireless telemetry into our intraoperative force sensors, thereby enabling our technology to progress towards regulatory approval, and bringing us closer to first-in-human trials.