Innovative diagnosis of osteoarthritis by endoscopic-compatible fibre Bragg grating-based indentation

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Globally osteoarthritis is one of the most prevalent diseases of the musculoskeletal system. Within the scope of an arthroscopic intervention the regions of degenerated cartilage have to be characterized and localised precisely within the joint. Under the conditions of an arthroscopic intervention this is sometimes difficult to perform by visual inspection, which is currently the usual procedure. The basic principles of a new diagnostic tool that gives the surgeon additional support will be investigated in this project. The Young s modulus of the upper layer of the cartilage will be determined with an endoscopy-compatible indentation probe, which is based on a fibre-optic sensor element, a so-called fibre Bragg grating. From the measured Young s modulus information on the degree of cartilage degeneration can be derived. Application-specific probe and signal conditioning schemes will be developed to meet the required sensitivity and accuracy. The correlation between the elasticity of the cartilage and the degree of its degeneration will be intensively studied. Therefore, bovine cartilage will be treated enzymatically in order to mimic different stages of cartilage degeneration. These samples will be investigated by both, fibre-optic indentation measurements and by indentation type atomic force microscopy (IT-AFM) employing nano- and micro-scale indenters. The suitability of the approach in a real-world medical context will be demonstrated by investigating ex vivo human probes of cartilage from osteoarthritic patients.