CALGARY- Alberta researchers have developed a new test that appears to be able to detect osteoarthritis in its earliest stages.
Osteoarthritis is a painful, degenerative joint disease that occurs when cartilage protecting the joint wears away.
“Clinically speaking, the current diagnosis or definition of osteoarthritis is three months of consecutive joint pain with or without changes that can be seen on X-Ray,” says Roman Krawetz, the team’s lead researcher with the McCaig Institute for Bone & Joint Health at the University of Calgary. “The problem is that a patient who has experienced three months of pain likely already has an advanced form of the disease.”
The new test examines either a sample of blood or synovial fluid from a person’s joint and looks for indications of inflammation.
“We looked at what’s going on with the inflammatory response within patients that have early stages of the disease within the knee join and in the blood and we’re able to find that yes, there’s actually a very specific response in patients with osteoarthritis,” Krawetz explains.
A gift from the Calgary Foundation will now allow the team to begin using the test on a small number of Alberta patients. Researchers are hopeful that eventually the tool will be widely used by both doctors and researchers.
Research has shown physiotherapy and weight loss can help slow the progression of osteoarthritis. Krawetz says the test would enable doctors to help patients identified with early stage osteoarthritis make the necessary lifestyle changes. It could also help drug researchers develop new therapies.
“Down the line, pharmaceutical companies could use the test to identify a cohort of patients with early stage osteoarthritis, the type of patient that would best respond to drug therapy.”
Its estimated that 10 per cent of Canadians will develop osteoarthritis and OA is the cause of 90 per cent of knee replacements.
Demand for knee replacements has risen steadily in Alberta. 5025 were delivered in 2010/2011, two years later that number jumped to 6114. The health system appears to be struggling to keep up with that level of demand the current wait time for knee surgery in Alberta in 40.1 weeks.
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