Abstract
For clarifying an etiology ofjoint disease and for establishing the surgical treatment of the disease it is important to measure the contact pressure distribution in the human joint. Up to now, human joints such as knee, hip, wrist and ankle joint have been measured by several kinds of sheet-type sensor. However, the measurement of contact pressure distribution in human small joint such as finger joint has not been done because the thickness of the sensor and the large space of the lead wire prevented the sensor from insertion into the joint space. Also, the measurement of contact pressure distribution at clinical treatment such as endoscopic surgery has not been done. In this research, modifying the measurement system using pressure-sensitive conductive film, a thinner and higher resolution sensor is developed. In addition, we develop an introduction mechanism of the sensor into living body during endoscopic surgery. The developed system is applied to experiments of the compression by indenter of clip and the usefulness of the system is verified.
