Joint endoprosthesis with ambient condition sensing
AssigneeDePuy Products, Inc.
InventorsYen-Shuo Liao, Mark DiSilvestro
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Abstract
A system for monitoring the ambient conditions of a mammalian joint, and particularly a joint that has been instrumented with a joint endoprosthesis includes a sensor supported by a component of the joint endoprosthesis. The system includes a transmission element that is also supported within the body of the patient, preferably within the endoprosthesis. The transmission element transmits a signal indicative of the sensed ambient condition within the instrumented joint. For example, the sensor can be a temperature sensor used to evaluate the temperature within a joint, such as a hip joint, during activity or exercise by the patient.
Claims19
A system for sensing a condition within a mammalian joint comprising:
- an endoprosthesis including a body configured to replace a portion of the joint, the body including a wire channel;
- a sensor supported by said body, said sensor adapted to sense an ambient condition of the mammalian joint and to generate a condition signal indicative of the sensed condition;
- a transmitter connected to said sensor through said wire channel to receive said condition signal and operable to transmit a transmission signal outside the joint indicative of said condition signal;
- a receiver disposed outside the joint for receiving said transmission signal;
- and
- translation circuitry for translating said transmission signal to a human sensible signal.
A method for determining a condition within a mammalian joint comprising the steps of:
- introducing a sensor within the joint, the sensor adapted to sense a temperature and to generate a sensor signal indicative of the temperature;
- coupling the sensor with a transmission element operable to transmit an information signal outside the joint in response to the sensor signal;
- sensing the ambient condition within the joint;
- transmitting the information signal;
- analyzing the information signal to determine when a temperature within the joint exceeds a predetermined setpoint;
- and
- generating a human sensible warning signal in response to the determination that the temperature within the joint exceeds a predetermined setpoint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.