%0 Journal Article
%T Optical Biosensor Based on Microbendings Technique: An Optimized Mean to Measure the Bone Strength
%A Preeti Singh
%A Abhishek Shrivastava
%J Advances in Optical Technologies
%D 2014
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2014/853725
%X Osteoporosis, a disease in humans, reduces bone mineral density. The microarchitecture of the bone gets deteriorated with change in variety of proteins in the bone. Therefore, a quantitative assessment of the strength of human bone, considering its structural properties and degradation due to aging, disease, and therapeutic treatment, becomes an integral part of the bioengineering studies. This paper presents a model of fiber optic biosensors (FOBs) which utilizes microbending technique to measure the strength of the bone. In parallel, an artificial neural network (ANN) based test bench has been developed for the optimization of FOBs strain measurement in orthoapplications using MATLAB. The performance accuracy of the given model appears to be considerable in ensuring the detection of the onset of osteoporosis. 1. Introduction The importance of bone quality has long been recognized by orthopedic clinicians and radiographers to account for damage accumulation and predict susceptibility to fractures. There are numerous studies that have investigated the effects of age, drug treatments, and disease on the structure and properties of bone [1, 2]. Many of these studies employ biomechanical approach for testing stiffness, strength, and toughness of bone. Echo-tracking (ET) system [3, 4] has been mentioned in which strain of the bone is measured significantly under a certain load to evaluate the bone strength. But the given system needs further improvements, especially, to evaluate the measurement of displacement. With the recent development of biosensors, it is now possible to monitor the strain on the bones. In this regard, various types of biosensors have been reported [5, 6]. Majority of them are based on piezoresistive strain gauge or other solid state sensing technologies. But their output is restricted to a small sensing area. Under the circumstances, it becomes necessary for the workers to use more sensors to sense larger regions. This is possible only at the expense of increased dimensions and loss of flexibility [7]. The limitations of conventional biosensors combined with poor compatibility of metallic components with human body, their larger sensitivity to EM interference, and also the fact that the majority of sensors guide electricity through metallic wires have restricted their application in clinical practice. It is in this context that the FOS (fiber optic sensor) technology presents substantial advantages over conventional electric sensing systems. FOS is a device in which a low loss optical fiber is used in one or the other way. It can be
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/aot/2014/853725/