A microchip is thin, like a piece of paper, and roughly the size of a penny. It can use wireless technology to track the health of the bone or track the bone’s ability to heal after injuries like a fracture or a break. This technology allows a doctor and patient to monitor the health of their bones from inside the body. The medical device industry within the U.S. has more than 356,000 people among 5,800 companies, but why do we need this technology?.
As people age, their bones become more fragile. Conditions like osteoporosis cause patients to spend more time in hospitals than many other conditions. A team of researchers believes that there is a future for computer chips where they can care for aging bones and other complications. Basically, a microchip is like a computer in the bone that can gather data about how bones recover and respond to therapy.
Bone grafting is a medical procedure that applies bone tissue or similar substances to bones that are damaged. There are many different methods to achieve a bone graft. One of these techniques includes the Graftgun. This is a quick way to accurately deliver a bone graft to a damaged part of the bone. This provides a controlled method for delivering bone grafting to the surgical site with just enough pressure to fill in a void in the bone during a surgical procedure. In addition, doctors believe that bone grafting procedures will be able to place microchips on damaged bones in the future.
If doctors can understand how the bone is healing in real-time, it can help them figure out the best future treatment options. For example, this lets doctors know the best time to remove screws and plates that are holding bones together after they have broken. This can help improve the way doctors treat broken and fractured bones.
As medical technology improves, doctors are finding new ways to treat common medical conditions. It is helpful to know these advancements so that patients can make the best medical decisions to improve their health. Microchipping bones is just one advancement that could improve the lives of everyone.