Towards a fine tunable tibial implant for the in-vivo correction of ligament imbalance resulting from patient morpho-functional evolution
Résumé
The main purpose of this paper is to summarize the results of our research to develop a new generation of instrumented knee implant. The proposed implant is supposed to provide the clinician with significant information on the tibiofemoral force distribution during normal walking in order to assess the ligament imbalance and correct it as needed. The electronics embedded into the implant to achieve this task should be miniaturized enough to fit the limited space available inside it. These electronics should also be self-powered to eliminate the need for periodic replacement of a rechargeable battery or the need for an external source of electric power. Therefore, the possibility to use the piezoceramics not only as imbalance sensors but also as energy harvesters within the tibial baseplate of knee implant has been investigated by means of theoretical modeling and experimental trials.