Surgical Simulations to Optimize the Treatment of Wrist Osteoarthritis

手腕骨关节炎是一种会导致剧烈疼痛的退行性疾病。这种疼痛限制了功能能力，并经常导致无法工作。减轻疼痛最可靠的方法之一是手术。然而，目前的外科治疗永久性地降低了手腕的活动范围和握力。这种握力的丧失尤其有害，因为它限制了患者执行日常生活活动的能力，包括拿起平底锅和打开门。这项建议的目的是确定在两种治疗骨关节炎的手术后限制握力的生物力学因素：近端排腕骨切除(PRC)和舟骨切除四角融合术(SE4CF)。PRC和SE4CF特别令人感兴趣，因为关于哪种方法在保持握力方面没有达成共识，尽管有大量的回顾性研究比较了这两种方法。此外，PRC和SE4CF以不同的方式改变了手腕的生物力学设计，表明不同的因素限制了每个过程后的握力。在拟议的研究中，将在术后力量受损(目标3)的背景下测量和评估术后肌肉力矩产生(目标1)和力量产生参数(目标2)。在目标1中，将进行身体实验，以测量模拟PRC和SE4CF后初级腕和外在拇指肌肉的肌力矩臂。在目标2中，将使用超声波在体内测量初级腕部肌肉的肌纤维长度。在AM 3中，术后手腕和手的力量将被活体测量，这些数据将被用于肌肉骨骼计算机模型，以评估力矩臂和纤维长度的变化如何影响手腕、握力和握力。这项工作的完成将提高对手腕设计如何影响手产生的力，从而影响手功能的科学理解。最终，临床医生将能够利用从这项研究中获得的知识来制定康复方案和手术技术，以克服手术后的损伤，从而改善患者的预后和生活质量。 通过这项研究，申请者将获得在进行涉及身体和人体受试者的实验以及使用计算机建模来增强对实验结果的解释方面的经验。申请者将接受关于有效教学、跨学科团队合作以及向科学和临床观众展示的额外培训。这些经验将教给申请者技术和专业技能，这些技能对终身研究生涯至关重要。

Wrist osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that causes severe pain. This pain limits functional abilities and frequently causes the inability to work. One of the most reliable methods to reduce pain is surgery. However, current surgical treatments permanently decrease wrist range of motion and grip strength. This loss of grip strength is particularly detrimental because it limits patient's abilities to perform activities ofdaily living, including picking up a saucepan and opening a door. The objective of this proposal is to identify the biomechanical factors that limit grip strength following two procedures to treat osteoarthritis: proximal row carpectomy (PRC) and scaphoid-excision four-corner fusion (SE4CF). PRC and SE4CF are of particular interest because there is no consensus regarding which is better at preserving grip strength, even though there are a large number of retrospective studies comparing these procedures. Additionally, PRC and SE4CF change the biomechanical design of the wrist in different ways, suggesting that different factors limit grip strength following each procedure. In the proposed study, post-operative muscle moment-generating (Aim 1) and force-generating parameters (Aim 2) will be measured and evaluated in the context of post-operative impairments in strength (Aim 3). In Aim 1, a cadaveric experiment will be conducted to measure the muscle moment arms of the primary wrist and extrinsic thumb muscles following simulated PRC and SE4CF. In Aim 2, post-operative muscle fiber length of the primary wrist muscles will be measured in vivo using ultrasound. In Am 3, post-operative wrist and hand strength will be measured in vivo, and these data will be used in musculoskeletal computer models to evaluate how changes in moment arm and fiber length influence wrist, pinch, and grip strength. Completion of this work will improve the scientific understanding of how the design of the wrist influences the forces produced by the hand, and thereby affects hand function. Ultimately, clinicians will be able to use knowledge gained from this study to develop rehabilitation protocols and surgical techniques to overcome post-operative impairments, thereby improving patient outcomes and quality of life. Through this research, the applicant will gain experience in performing experiments involving both cadavers and human subjects as well as using computer modeling to enhance the interpretation of experimental results. The applicant will receive additional training on teaching effectively, collaborating on interdisciplinary teams, and presenting to both scientific and clinical audiences. These experiences will teach the applicant technical and professional skills that are essential for a lifelong research career.