High Resolution Mapping of Bone

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common musculoskeletal disease occurring in the UK, affecting approximately 8.75 million individuals. There is currently no cure or preventative treatment for OA which often results in radical procedures such as total knee replacement; in the UK, 98% of total knee replacements were for OA.

The initiation and progression of osteoarthritis is not fully understood, preventing the development of effective diagnoses and therapies. The main radiographic characteristics of OA are loss of articular cartilage and disturbed bone growth. Initially, the loss of cartilage was believed to be the initiating tissue of OA; however recently, researchers have turned their attention to the bone for further insights. This has led to conflicting research throughout animal and human studies. With such variation in conclusions, - usually as a result of differing OA induction methods and animal models, there is a need to consolidate these within human tissue.

This work will focus on determining the morphological and physicochemical changes in knee and hip joints with OA. From here, using imaging techniques, the microarchitecture of osteoarthritic bone will be examined to determine how it may change during the progression of the disease. From here, these samples will undergo chemical analysis, looking at any changes that may occur to the mineral or organic content of the bone. These two forms of analysis will be compared to see if they can inform each other.