Active Shape and Appearance Modelling of the hip in Osteoarthritis
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Active Shape Modelling and Active Appearance Modelling of the hip as Biomarkers for Osteoarthritis
IRAS ID
125140
Contact name
David M Reid
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Aberdeen
Research summary
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the commonest form of arthritis. It is characterised by joint damage and joint failure, causing stiffness and pain. Although OA is a common disease, there are no established treatments. One reason for this is that, at present, it is difficult to measure small changes in severity, making drug trials too long and expensive to run. X-ray evidence of OA encompasses many factors, including thickening of part of the bone (sclerosis), bony spurs (osteophytes), deformation of the bone shape and the destruction of cartilage. Currently, however, only cartilage destruction can be assessed quantitatively; either by measuring joint space narrowing on an x-ray, or cartilage thickness on a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) image, which is prohibitively expensive for widespread use and can take a number of years to show a measurable reduction. Other changes are measured semi-quantitatively using a scoring system that assigned a score between 0 and 4 depending upon the severity of the disease.
In a previous study we developed a computer model of the hip that could be applied to hip images taken from radiographs, MRI scans and bone density scans (Dual Energy Xray Absoptiometry (DXA)) to measure the shape of the hip in people with differing severity of OA. During this study 3 DXA scans were taken 6 months apart. Using the models, we found significant differences in joint shape over a 6-12 month period, showing that this approach has the potential to measure smaller changes than currently possible.
We now wish to recall these subjects and invite them for a further DXA scan. This will allow us to confirm that the changes observed in the models are linked to worsening OA using the well established semi-quantitative criteria which can only identify significant changes over a number of years.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
13/NS/0145
Date of REC Opinion
1 Nov 2013
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion