At the University of Cambridge, scientists have developed a method of monitoring small changes in joints of patients living with osteoarthritis. The capability should give clinical researchers and physicians treating patients a new tool to better understand and deal with the disease.
The technique relies on CT scans of patient joints, and it measures the slight changes in the distance between the two bones in a given joint. As such, the semi-automated method is called joint space mapping (JSM), and it seems to be better than traditional two-dimensional X-ray imaging, though it has only been tried on donated cadavers.
“Using this technique, we’ll hopefully be able to identify osteoarthritis earlier, and look at potential treatments before it becomes debilitating,” said Dr Tom Turmezei from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. “It could be used to screen at-risk populations, such as those with known arthritis, previous joint injury, or elite athletes who are at risk of developing arthritis due to the continued strain placed on their joints.”
If it proves as effective as hoped, joint space mapping may become the standard of care for assessing joint health.
Study in Scientific Reports: A new quantitative 3D approach to imaging of structural joint disease…
Via: Cambridge…