Journal of orthopaedic research : official publication of the Orthopaedic Research Society
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The vertebral column is the most frequent site of metastatic involvement of the skeleton with up to 1/3 of all cancer patients developing spinal metastases. Longer survival times for patients, particularly secondary to breast cancer, have increased the need for better understanding the impact of skeletal metastases on structural stability. This study aims to apply image registration to calculate strain distributions in metastatically involved rodent vertebrae utilizing µCT imaging. ⋯ Metastatically involved vertebrae had greater strain magnitude than control vertebrae. Strain concentrations at the dorsal wall in only the metastatic vertebrae, were consistent with higher incidence of burst fracture secondary to this pathology. Future use of image registration of whole vertebrae will allow focused examination of the efficacy of targeted and systemic treatments in reducing strains and the related risk of fracture in pathologic bones under simple and complex loading.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Sensitivity of gait parameters to the effects of anti-inflammatory and opioid treatments in knee osteoarthritis patients.
The study aim was to address the need for objective markers of pain-modifying interventions by testing the hypothesis that selective gait measures of knee joint loading can distinguish differences between non-steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAID), analgesic treatment (opioid-receptor agonist), and placebo in patients medial knee osteoarthritis (OA). A randomized, single-blind washout, double-blind treatment, double-dummy cross-over trial using three treatment arms placebo, opioid (Oxycodone), and NSAID (Celecoxib) in medial compartment knee OA patients. Six patients with Kellgren-Lawrence radiographic severity grades of 2 or 3 completed six testing sessions (gait and pain assessment) at 2-week intervals. ⋯ Self-reported function (WOMAC scores) was not different among treatments (p>0.05). The changes in total reaction moments and GRFs for only the NSAID suggest that greater increases in joint loading occurs when joint inflammation is treated in addition to pain. The total knee reaction moment, representing the magnitude of the extrinsic moment, appears to be a sensitive marker, more so than self-reported metrics, for evaluating knee OA treatment effects.
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Large, osseous, segmental defects heal poorly. Muscle has a propensity to form bone when exposed to an osteogenic stimulus such as that provided by transfer and expression of cDNA encoding bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2). The present study evaluated the ability of genetically modified, autologous muscle to heal large cranial defects in rats. ⋯ Although none of the defects were completely healed in this time, muscle grafts expressing BMP-2 deposited more than twice as much new bone as controls. Histology confirmed the anatomical integrity of the newly formed bone, which was comparable in thickness and mineral density to the original cranial bone. This study confirms the in vivo osteogenic properties of genetically modified muscle and suggests novel strategies for healing bone.