Osteoarthritis of Knees Clinical Trial
Official title:
The Effect on Gait Pattern in Patients Receiving Arthroscopic Cartilage Regeneration Facilitating Procedure (ACRFP) for Treatment of Osteoarthritis
The aim of this study is to discuss the effect of gait pattern in patients receiving arthroscopic cartilage regeneration facilitating procedure (ACRFP) for treatment of osteoarthritis of knees.
Pain during gait is the most common and problematic symptom in individuals with
osteoarthritis (OA) of knee joints. Limited range of motion, reduced walking speed, and a
shortened stride length are also occasionally observed. These changes may be secondary or
compensatory phenomena adopted by individuals to lessen the load on the OA-affected knees.
It is generally agreed that medial plica can produce symptoms in the knee joint, and can be
successfully treated by arthroscopic resection when it becomes inflamed, thickened, and
fibrotic. In 2006, Lyu and Hsu reported that medial plica had strong correlation with medial
compartment osteoarthritis of knees. In their further studies disclosing the kinematic
relationship of the medial plica with the medial femoral condyle found that medial plica
might cause some degree of abrasion on the surface of medial femoral condyle during knee
motion. The repeated injuries elicited by this abrasion phenomenon might trigger some
inflammatory process to gradually damage the cartilage of knee.
Based on these findings, Lyu developed a concept of arthroscopic cartilage regeneration
facilitating procedure (ACRFP) by arthroscopic resection of the medial plica, in addition to
both medial and lateral capsular release, for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee
joint. The clinical outcome of this procedure by eradication of the abrasion phenomenon
caused by the tight, fibrotic, and hypertrophied medial plica, with decompression of the
patellofemoral joint, the pain in most patients could be reduced, and the degenerative
process in the medial compartment of some patients might be decelerated or arrested.
During the ACRFP, additional procedures such as synovectomy, abrasiochondroplasty, or partial
menisectomy may also be carried out when necessary. It has been found that the elimination of
the existing detrimental factors may provide a preferable environment for regeneration of the
damaged cartilage.
Although the results of ACRFP for treatment of osteoarthritis of knee has been supported by
several researches as being an effective method, it still lacks investigations on the gait
pattern after such procedure. Therefore, the aim of this study is to discuss the
effectiveness of the ACRFP for the patients with osteoarthritis of knee joints, specifically
focused on their gait pattern.
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