LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – The measurement of acoustic emissions and kinetic instability of the knee could become a promising noninvasive way to detect osteoarthritis (OA), according to a recent study.
Researchers at the University of Oulu (Finland) have developed a prototype device that allows multimodal assessment of the sound and motion of the knee.
“The OA diagnostic chain has many problems, some modalities are very expensive, and some have a low sensitivity as well,” said study investigator Aleksei Tiulpin, MSc, at the World Congress on Osteoarthritis, referring to magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray imaging, and symptomatic assessment, respectively.
Sara Freeman/MDedge News
Aleksei Tiulpin
The investigational device that the research team has developed is worn like a brace around the knee and has microphones embedded within it to capture sound coming from the right and left sides of the knee. The device also uses two accelerometers, one placed on the thigh and one on the lower limb to measure movement simultaneously.
“We developed all the software and all the hardware ourselves for this project,” Mr. Tiulpin noted at the congress, sponsored by the Osteoarthritis Research Society International. “The acoustic and kinematic information was measured simultaneously.”
To see whether the prototype device was able to aid the diagnosis of OA, Mr. Tiulpin and his associates recruited 66 women aged 44-67 years old, roughly half of whom (51.5%) had radiographically confirmed knee OA of Kellgren-Lawrence grade 2 or higher.