A wearable antenna system for structural monitoring of biodegradable magnesium-based suture wires

Abstract

Open-heart surgery is a way of treating various heart problems. It is a challenging operation during which the operating surgeon will cut through the sternum and spread the ribcage to access the heart. After sternotomy, complications such as sternal separation and wound or subcutaneous infections may occur due to the sensitivity of the operation region. The probability of occurrence for these post-operative infections is low; however, the mortality rate is high in case of infection. Such risks make remote monitoring and examining patients’ health more critical in the post-operative period. Computed tomography appears as the traditional way of tracking the sutures surrounding the sternum. Stainless steel and titanium are popular for sutures to close the sternum after open-heart surgery. This thesis proposes an alternative suture material and a novel structural real-time monitoring technique in the post-operative period. Magnesium-based sutures have become significant in medical applications due to their biocompatibility and its ability to degrade without releasing any byproduct. A wearable antenna system is a possible solution to monitor patients who underwent open-heart surgery. Ultra- wideband(UWB) coplanar waveguide(CPW) fed disc monopole antenna is chosen as the on-body reader antenna and is optimized to operate on the human body and is fabricated on 1.27 mm Rogers RO3210 with relative permittivity of 10.2. Next, a series of analyses are made in the numerical model, such as the degradation tracking of magnesium-based sutures, breakage points on the suture, different thicknesses to represent overweight and underweight patients, and antenna position effect. After that, the measurement setup is established, including the tissue-mimicking human average and human bone phantoms. Finally, simulation and measurement results are compared and interpreted.