Bath research team aim to improve failing wrist replacement surgery
A research team at the University of Bath is to investigate the reasons why wrist replacement surgery on patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis is so unsuccessful.
Although operations to replace failed hips and knees are now routinely carried out with very high levels of success, results of wrist replacement surgery have been disappointing.
Trainee orthopaedic surgeon Lisa Wood, based in the university's Department of Mechanical Engineering at Claverton Down, aims to look in detail at one possible reason for this failure.
With a £15,600 grant from medical research charity the Arthritis Research Campaign, Miss Wood hopes to use a state of the art measuring device, comprising of a transmitter and sensors, to examine wrist motion in up to 100 volunteers.
"It could be that current replacements do not reproduce wrist motion accurately enough, and we want to evaluate exactly which sort of motion that normal wrist allows, and how this motion varies with individuals," explained Miss Wood.
"This information can then be used to design a better replacement that reproduces motion in a more life-like fashion. We would hope this will translate into better success rates for wrist replacement surgery."
Patients with rheumatoid arthritis are often severely affected in both wrists. Normal surgical procedure is to fuse the damaged joint into a solid, usually painless, bony mass. Most patients adapt well to this, but find it much more difficult to manage if both wrists are replaced, because of the lack of movement.
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fifth biggest medical research charity in the UK, and is funded entirely by public donations. It supports an extensive research programme in Bath.
