Noisy knees

A new medical device to detect knee osteoarthritis

MRC 'Noisy Knees' study: Acoustic Emission as a non-invasive biomarker for quantitative dynamic assessment of knee joint repair in clinical trials and stratified medicine.

Lancaster Health Hub, led by Professor John Goodacre, together with partners and colleagues in other organisations in the North West, were awarded Medical Research Council funding to develop a medical device to identify osteoarthritis in the knee using sound waves.

The technique involves attaching microphones to the knees, enabling high frequency sounds from the knee to be measured as patients perform sit-stand-sit movements. The aim is to develop a portable device to be used by GPs, hospital doctors and nurses to assess patients with knee osteoarthritis regularly to see whether the knee is changing or responding to treatment.

The work has been developed in collaboration with Professor Lik-Kwan Shark at the University of Central Lancashire, Professor Peter Diggle at Lancaster University, and Professor John Waterton and Dr Mike Bowes at Manchester University, with Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust as the host NHS Trust.

Professor Goodacre said, "This work is very exciting because it involves scientists and clinicians from several different disciplines and sectors working together as a team to develop an entirely new approach. Potentially, this could transform the ways in which knee osteoarthritis is assessed and treated".