Research Projects

Clinical management of bone fracture healing is a serious challenge for orthopaedic surgeons and clinicians due to the undesired development of delayed unions and non-unions in patients. Frequent follow-up with informed recommendations may avoid such complications. In addition to this, prolonged use of fracture stabilization devices to treat delayed unions and non-unions is also painful for patients. Radiographic techniques such as X-rays and Computed Tomography (CT) scans are repeatedly used as gold standards to monitor the status of bone healing, which also exposes the patients to harmful high-level radiation. A physical examination is sometimes done to assess the fracture mobility. These assessment techniques are qualitative in nature, however, and the evaluation of results depends on the medical experience of the orthopaedic surgeon. A qualitative assessment technique is indeed required to monitor the bone healing stages. Accordingly, this proposal aims to design and develop a smart and non-invasive optical instrumentation-based device to monitor and assess the bone fracture healing progression stages in patients suffering with lower limb bone fractures. The developed device will be mounted on fracture stabilization devices, namely external fixators. The device will measure static and dynamic loading-induced interfragmentary strain (which governs bone healing stages) developed at the fracture site, primarily in a synthetic bone model using an experimental setup in a laboratory setting, which will be further extended and tested in clinical settings for in vivo experiments and trials. The proposed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) optical sensors are proposed to be utilized for strain measurement, the results of which will be validated with a suitable method such as a piezoelectric accelerometer and finite element method (FEM). A computational tool will process the measured strain data at the fracture site to evaluate the stage of fracture healing. The outcome will be compared and correlated with qualitative assessment techniques such as X-rays and CT scans. Ultimately, a smart, non-invasive, and robust optical device to monitor the bone fracture healing stages will be available. This will assist orthopaedic surgeons in making informed decisions on medical interventions to guide the successful clinical management of bone fracture healing. The technology developed will finally be transferred to the healthcare industry for availability in hospitals and healthcare units.

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