A Feasibility Study of Laser-assisted Titanium Implant Drilling for Periprosthetic Fracture Repair

This paper studies the feasibility of hand drilling through a titanium implant located in the femur. This is hypothesized to be achievable via laser-assisted drilling with carbide tools. A series of tests were conducted to measure the thrust force and torque with different shaped drill bits under dry- and laser-assisted drilling (using a 200-watt fiber laser), respectively. These drill bits included 2-flute and 3-flute twist drills and a straight flute drill that is clinically available. Results showed that the 2-flute drill outperformed the other two in both thrust force and torque. The laser can further reduce the forces of 2- and 3-flute drill bits by over 10%, but has a negative impact on the straight-flute one. This paper also discusses results from a clinical perspective, current limitations, and future work.