An instrument for prosthesis osseointegration assessment by electrochemical impedance spectrum measurement

A method based on electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) for the diagnosis of prosthesis osseointegration was proposed by the authors in previous works [P. Arpaia, F. Clemente, A. Zanesco, Low-invasive diagnosis of metallic prosthesis osseointegration by electrical impedance spectroscopy, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. 56 (3) (2007) 784-789; P. Arpaia, F. Clemente, C. Romanucci, Impedance spectroscopy-based measurement of cochlear prosthesis osseointegration: in vivo test procedure and characterization, in: Proceedings of IMTC 2007, Warsaw (Poland), pp. 1786-1791]. In this paper, the design, the implementation, and the metrological characterization of a microcontroller-based prototype conceived as a stand alone instrument to be used for in vivo clinical applications are presented. Particulars on the preliminary experimental results of laboratory evaluation are presented.