Systems and methods for determining the cure of PMMA intraoperatively after implantation of an orthopedic device
AssigneeWavetest, LLC
InventorsDaniel A. Funk, Quang-Viet Nguyen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention comprises a system for securing an implant to a bone comprising an implant which is affixed to the bone, a grout or bone cement comprising a composition that cures in an exothermic reaction and which is capable of securing the implant to the bone in a cured state, a device which provides access to the grout or bone cement in position on the bone and a tester which measures temperature over time to detect the exothermic reaction so as to determine when the composition reaches cure. The tester comprises a sensor joined to a circuit and to an indicator that emits a signal in response to a current emitted to the circuit by the sensor.
Claims15
A system for securing an implant to a bone, comprising:
- an implant,
- a grout or bone cement in contact with the implant and comprising a composition that cures in an exothermic reaction at a temperature x, the grout being capable of securing the implant to the bone in a cured state, and
- a tester in contact with the grout or bone cement and which detects the exothermic reaction to determine when the temperature reaches the temperature x, and comprises a sensor joined to a circuit which continuously monitors a change in temperature over time of the composition as compared to the ambient temperature and utilizes a first derivative of the relative temperature increase with respect to time with respect to an ambient temperature in the grout or cement to determine an inflection point in the rate of cure whereby the circuit activates a signal when it senses the inflection point of the temperature change.
A system for securing an implant to a bone, comprising:
- an implant configured to be positioned with the bone,
- a grout or bone cement in contact with the implant and comprising a composition that cures in an exothermic reaction at a temperature x, the grout being capable of securing the implant to the bone in a cured state, and
- a tester in contact with the grout or bone cement and which detects the exothermic reaction to determine when the temperature reaches the temperature x, and comprises a sensor joined to a circuit which continuously monitors the change over time in temperature of the composition as compared to the ambient temperature to determine an inflection point at a rate change in the change in the relative temperature over time and utilizes a second derivative of the relative temperature increase with respect to time in the grout or cement with respect to the ambient temperature to determine a state of cure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.