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

在全球范围内，骨关节炎是肌肉骨骼系统最常见的疾病之一。在关节镜介入的范围内，退化软骨的区域必须在关节内精确地表征和定位。在关节镜介入的条件下，这有时难以通过目视检查来执行，这是目前的常用程序。本项目将研究一种新的诊断工具的基本原理，为外科医生提供额外的支持。软骨上层的杨氏模量将用内窥镜兼容的压痕探针确定，该探针基于光纤传感器元件，即所谓的光纤布拉格光栅。从测量的杨氏模量可以导出关于软骨退化程度的信息。将开发特定于应用的探头和信号调节方案，以满足所需的灵敏度和精度。将深入研究软骨的弹性与其退化程度之间的相关性。因此，将对牛软骨进行酶促处理，以模拟软骨退化的不同阶段。这些样品将进行调查，光纤压痕测量和压痕型原子力显微镜（IT-AFM）采用纳米和微米级压头。在现实世界的医疗背景下，该方法的适用性将通过研究骨关节炎患者软骨的离体人类探针来证明。

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.