Evaluation of Mechanical Properties of Human Rotator Cuff Tendon
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluation of the Mechanical Properties of Cadaveric Human Rotator Cuff Tendon Tissue
IRAS ID
185390
Contact name
Navraj S Nagra
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Oxford
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 20 days
Research summary
Rotator Cuff Tendon (RCT) tears are a common cause of pain and have significant impact on function in up to 30% of adults. The cost to the economy is estimated to be approximately $3 billion in direct healthcare costs and time off work.
Unfortunately surgery in itself is not always curative, with up to half of patients having re-rupture of their RCT repairs post-operatively, causing surgeons to turn to grafts to augment repairs with only modest improvements in outcomes.There is speculation as to the causes for high failure rates of RCT graft repairs and there is some consensus that (1) the material properties of grafts are too dissimilar to native RCT tissues and (2) the immune response evoked by foreign graft materials are causes of graft failure. Therefore there is increasing pressure to produce RCT grafts that more closely mimic the material properties of native tissue, with a view to improving post-operative patient outcomes.
Understanding the mechanical properties of native tendon tissue will help us in design and development of the patches with similar properties to RC tendon. This study aims to investigate the mechanical properties (Maximum tensile stress, tensile (Young’s) modulus and breaking strain) of cadaveric tissue from donated RCT tissue.
We will do this by using tensile testing devices based in the Holder Lab, Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, University of Oxford. We will also perform electron microscopy, chemical staining and histology to confirm that the tissue we are gathering is non-degenerate and therefore the data we have gathered is relating to healthy tissue.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0304
Date of REC Opinion
31 Jul 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion