Thermal Effects of Pulsed Magnetotherapy on Implants

Magnetotherapy is applied as an efficient physiotherapy method in the process of recovery, following orthopedic injuries. If the bone fracture is unstable, a compression plate is needed; it is maintained for a long period after surgery, approx. one year, while intensive recovery is required, including magnetotherapy. The effects of this method can be analyzed by numerical simulation, using computational domains, tailored to the personalized anatomy of the patient. This study is concerned with the numerical modeling of the magnetic field problem and the heat transfer problem associated with magnetotherapy, using a three-dimensional computational domain that reproduces the bone and the tissue obtained by imaging reconstruction and a CAD design of a titanium compression plate that is fixed across the femur. In this paper, the coils are energized with a pulsed current, which allows adjusting the electromagnetic energy delivered to the body.