Apparatus and method for assessing percutaneous implant integrity

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus for assessing interface integrity between a medium and an implant. A first signal is translated from a motion of an impact body during impact with an abutment connected to the implant. In some embodiments, the first signal is filtered using a zero phase shift filter and then used for assessing the interface integrity. Since no phase shift is introduced, the interface integrity is accurately assessed. In another embodiment, the apparatus maintains a system model for impacting the impact body against the abutment. The apparatus analytically determines an interface property by applying a system property that has been determined to the system model. An accurate system model allows for an accurate assessment. According to another broad aspect, there is provided a method of conducting the impact test. According to the method, a person ensures that the impact body impacts against a consistent portion of the abutment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . An apparatus for processing a signal for determining an indication of an interface integrity between a medium and an implant that is at least partially embedded therein, the apparatus comprising:
 an input for receiving a first signal generated from a motion of an impact body during impact with an abutment connected to the implant; and   a zero phase shift filter for filtering the first signal thereby generating a filtered signal to be used for determining the indication of the interface integrity.   
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an output for providing the filtered signal to another entity that determines the indication of the interface integrity based on the filtered signal.   
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a property determiner for determining the indication of the interface integrity based on the filtered signal.   
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the indication of the interface integrity determined by the property determiner is an explicit indication of the integrity of the interface. 
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the property determiner is operable to determine the indication of the interface integrity by:
 determining a natural frequency of a system comprising the implant, the abutment, and the impact body; and   determining the indication of the interface integrity based on the natural frequency.   
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 a signal processor implementing both the zero phase shift filter and the property determiner.   
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , wherein the zero phase shift filter is a moving average filter. 
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 3 , further comprising:
 the impact body; and   a motion detector connected to the impact body for translating the motion of the impact body during impact into the first signal.   
     
     
         9 . A method of processing a signal for determining an indication of an interface integrity between a medium and an implant that is at least partially embedded therein, the method comprising:
 receiving a first signal generated from a motion of an impact body during impact with an abutment connected to the implant; and   filtering the first signal using a zero phase shift filter thereby generating a filtered signal to be used for determining the indication of the interface integrity.   
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 providing the filtered signal to another entity that determines the indication of the interface integrity based on the filtered signal.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 determining the indication of the interface integrity based on the filtered signal.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the indication of the interface integrity is an explicit indication of integrity. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein determining the indication of the interface integrity based on the filtered signal comprises:
 determining a natural frequency of a system comprising the implant and the abutment; and   determining the indication of the interface integrity based on the natural frequency.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the zero phase shift filter is a moving average filter. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising the step of translating the motion of the impact body during impact into the first signal. 
     
     
         16 . A non-transitory, computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor to implement the method of  claim 9 .