Electrical Impedance Characterization of Bone Fractures in Presence of an Intramedullary Nail

This paper presents an electrical impedance characterization and measurement method for monitoring bone fracture healing progress after osteosynthesis, for cases applying an intramedullary nail. While existing solutions fail due to the presence of the nail, the proposed method makes active use of the nail to achieve accurate healing progress monitoring. The proposed method captures variations in the electrical impedance at the fracture site as body tissues transform from the blood (hematoma) to fully recovered intact bone during healing. The proposed method, therefore, has the potential to be used for data acquisition of bone healing and pave the way for digitized diagnosis and treatment of bone fractures.