acoustic emission as a biomarker for knee osteoarthritis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Acoustic emission as a non-invasive biomarker for quantitative dynamic assessment of knee joint repair in clinical trials and stratified medicine.
IRAS ID
132418
Contact name
John Goodacre
Contact email
Research summary
We are developing an entirely new way of measuring improvement or deterioration in knee arthritis by analysing high frequency sounds which come from knees during sit-stand movements. The sounds are inaudible to the human ear, but are captured by a small microphone placed over the surface of the knee. The same principles have been used for many years by engineers to test moving parts in buildings and aircraft, but this is the first time that anyone has looked to see whether this technique could be useful in medicine. If it works, the technique could be carried out easily in NHS hospitals and general practices, and could help plan and monitor treatments for knee arthritis. Our research so far has provided very promising results. Now we want to see how the sound differs according to the severity of arthritis, and to see whether there is any relationship between the sound and the amount of damage in the joint.
We shall measure the sound signals in 220 people with knee osteoarthritis, and see if these are linked to other measures of arthritis severity, health status and function in each person. We shall also do a knee MR scan in 90 of the 220 participants to provide detailed information about how the sound relates to joint damage. Finally, in 165 of the 220 participants we shall repeat the sound measurements at different intervals over a 3 week period to see whether the sound changes from day-to-day and week-to-week.REC name
North West - Preston Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NW/0732
Date of REC Opinion
11 Nov 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion