Wearable bio-adhesive metal detector array (BioMDA) for spinal implants

Dynamic tracking of spinal instrumentation could facilitate real-time evaluation of hardware integrity and in so doing alert patients/clinicians of potential failure(s). Critically, no method yet exists to continually monitor the integrity of spinal hardware and by proxy the process of spinal arthrodesis; as such hardware failures are often not appreciated until clinical symptoms manifest. Accordingly, herein, we report on the development and engineering of a bio-adhesive metal detector array (BioMDA), a potential wearable solution for real-time, non-invasive positional analyses of osseous implants within the spine. The electromagnetic coupling mechanism and intimate interfacial adhesion enable the precise sensing of the metallic implants position without the use of radiation. The customized decoupling models developed facilitate the precise determination of the horizontal and vertical positions of the implants with incredible levels of accuracy (e.g., <0.5 mm). These data support the potential use of BioMDA in real-time/dynamic postoperative monitoring of spinal implants.

Jian Li, Shengxin Jia, Dengfeng Li, Lung Chow, Qiang Zhang, Yiyuan Yang, Xiao Bai, Qingao Qu, Yuyu Gao, Zhiyuan Li, Zongze Li, Rui Shi, Binbin Zhang, Ya Huang, Xinyu Pan, Yue Hu, Zhan Gao, Jingkun Zhou, WooYoung Park, Xingcan Huang, Hongwei Chu, Zhenlin Chen, Hu Li, Pengcheng Wu, Guangyao Zhao, Kuanming Yao, Muhamed Hadzipasic, Joshua D. Bernstock, Ganesh M. Shankar, Kewang Nan, Xinge Yu, Giovanni Traverso