Enhancer element

Abstract

An enhancer element for use in intraoperative assessment of coupling of an orthopaedic implant to a bone is disclosed. The implant and the bone form an implant-bone system having a first set of vibrational modes with a first mode density in a frequency range, wherein the enhancer element is mechanically couplable to the orthopaedic implant to form an enhancer-implant-bone system having a second set of vibrational modes with a second mode density in the frequency range, wherein the second mode density is greater than the first mode density. The enhancer element is mechanically couplable to a first end of the orthopaedic implant so that it is adapted to receive impaction blows for introducing the implant to the bone. During a vibrational measurement, the vibrational response of the enhancer-implant-bone system provides information about the stiffness of the enhancer-implant-bone system.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.