Imperial college scientists to investigate knee operation
SCIENTISTS at Imperial College, London, have been awarded a grant of nearly £75,000 from the Arthritis Research Campaign to investigate the effectiveness of a new type of knee surgery.
The team in the mechanical engineering department, led by Professor Andrew Amis, are to examine patello-femural surgery, which is infrequently carried out on people with severe, isolated osteoarthritis of the kneecap.
Surgeons are divided as to whether this technique is effective, and Professor Amis will look at five different types of patello-femural replacement to assess their success rates.
"If some patients just have an isolated lesion, it's vandalism to cut away all the healthy knee to put in a total knee replacement," he explained. "This type of surgery is a much less invasive procedure. It the osteoarthritis spreads to the rest of the knee, patients could then have a total knee replacement later."
Patello-femural replacement is thought to be suitable for one in six people who currently have knee replacements.
"We are setting up a testing rig, and by the end of the two-year study we should be able to rank of all the types of replacement that are currently available best, which will help surgeons to choose the best one," added Professor Amis.
The Arthritis Research Campaign is the fifth biggest medical research charity in the UK, and currently pumps in more than £2m into research projects at Imperial College.
