Development of a Flexible Meniscus Sensor for Detection of Force Distribution in Knee Arthroplasty

With the increasing demand for total knee arthroplasty (TKA) surgery, more attention has been paid to the accurate measurement of pressure and adjustment of knee prosthesis. The tightness between artificial meniscus and articular head and the thickness of artificial meniscus will directly affect the matching between knee joint and human body. At present, the installation and adjustment of knee joint during operation largely depends on the personal experience of doctors. In this work, a flexible pressure sensing device with bendable and distortable sensor arrays for force detection in knee arthroplasty is fabricated and characterized to provide quantitative data guidance and reference for knee arthroplasty. The internal pressure of prosthesis knee joint can be effectively detected through real-time obtaining for output voltages of sensor array. The densely distributed measuring points feedback abundant pressure distribution information. The pressure device shows good repeatability, consistency and small hysteresis in large detection range and stability in dynamic response which indicates promising potential in applications of knee arthroplasty.