The 2011 Shortlist - Medical and Healthcare

SMARTNAIL
Smith & Nephew, University College
London, Royal National Orthopaedic
Hospital
A telemetric nail that can monitor how well broken bones are healing has been developed through a collaboration involving engineers from medical device firm Smith and Nephew, and orthopaedic specialists from University College London (UCL). Metallic bone implants – also known as intramedullary nails – have been used since the 1940s to treat fractures but have hitherto been mainly passive. The new device,
dubbed SmartNail uses sensors and processors to actively measure the stresses and strains on an injured bone. This data can then be downloaded by a wearable device. Currently, clinicians rely on X-rays to monitor and diagnose fracture healing, a process that requires expert professional judgement and leaves the patient at risk of over-loading their fracture during a postoperative period. SmartNail will eliminate
some of this risk by providing validated quantitative data about fracture healing.

The implant will record the direction of the exerted load, allowing physicians and patients to know exactly which type of activity triggers too much stress. The device will also be able to record high load events yielding data that could corroborate decisions about esumption of normal activities, a more scientific approach than subjective pain feedback from patients. It will also record temperature, so localised inflammation from
a periprosthetic infection can be caught early. Smith & Nephew believes that wireless communication between orthopaedic implants and an external system could dramatically change the way clinicians and surgeons interact with the body, and it believes the device could grab a big share of the global IM nail market.