A BONE REAMING SYSTEM WITH TACTILE TEMPERATURE DISPLAY

A bone reaming system with temperature tactile sensation display was developed for potential use during bone internal fixation surgery. The developed reaming system will allow tracking of the amount of heat generated inside fractured bones by surgeons throughout the reaming process. It consists of a temperature sensing system to measure the bone cavity temperature, a rotor system to provide the rotational motion to the system, which emulates the rotational motion during a surgical bone-drilling procedure, and a RF receiver for receiving the wireless signal representing the measured temperature. The performance of the temperature sensing system was analyzed, including temperature signal linearity and wireless temperature signal transmission. Experiments were also conducted to play the temperature data from the sensing system over the Internet and allow a remote operator to feel the temperature sensation by using a thermoelectric heating/cooling device. Implementation of the new reaming system will allow surgeons to perform feedback control of temperature generation inside bone cavities, and hence, reduce the potential risks of bone internal fixation surgery significantly.