Piezoelectric-Based Smart Bone Plate for Fracture Healing Progress Monitoring.

Fracture healing progress monitoring techniques attract global research attention due to the importance of selecting the timing of removing the fixation device. To this end, in this research, we present a piezoelectric-based smart internal fixation device, in which a piezoelectric sandwich structure is laminated to the surface of a bone plate. In the content, we explain the reasons for utilizing piezoelectric films, elaborate the mechanism of fracture monitoring, and introduce the mechanical parameters of the sensor. The simulation and experimental results show that the electrical output of the device is associated with the elastic modulus of the filler between the tested broken bones when the working load is maintained, indicating that the bone recovery progress could be successfully detected by the developed technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]