AMROA
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Osteoarthritis
IRAS ID
209086
Contact name
James MacKay
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and The University of Cambridge
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 9 months, 28 days
Research summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the commonest cause of pain and disability in the adult population. At present, treatment options are limited to symptomatic relief and joint replacement when the joint is severely damaged.
The development of new treatments is hindered by the fact that currently used imaging techniques (a combination of x-rays and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) are not sensitive enough to detect whether or not a new treatment is working or not within a feasible time-frame (usually 1 year or less).
Advanced MRI techniques have the potential to solve this problem by quantifying very subtle changes in cartilage, bone and related tissues. The primary aim of this study is to evaluate the differences in our MRI measurements in people with OA compared to people without OA, and to evaluate the expected change in our MRI measurements over a 1 year time frame in the absence of any intervention. A secondary aim is to evaluate the reliability of these techniques.
Both of these steps are vital prior to using our MRI techniques in further studies.
The findings of our study will enable us to work out how many subjects are required for future interventional studies using MRI as an outcome measure.
If our MRI measurements demonstrate sufficient reliability and sensitivity to change, in future this may enable treatments that have an effect on these measurements to be fast-tracked for further investigation, whereas treatments which show no effect can be discarded without the need for long, costly trials or the wasting of trial participants’ time.
REC name
East of England - Cambridge Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0402
Date of REC Opinion
5 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion