IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2023 Sep;70(9):2741-2751. doi: 10.1109/TBME.2023.3263388. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
Knee osteoarthritis is currently one of the top causes of disability in older population, a rate that will only increase in the future due to an aging population and the prevalence of obesity. However, objective assessment of treatment outcomes and remote evaluation are still in need of further development. Acoustic emission (AE) monitoring in knee diagnostics has been successfully adopted in the past; however, a wide discrepancy among the adopted AE techniques and analyses exists. This pilot study determined the most suitable metrics to differentiate progressive cartilage damage and the optimal frequency range and placement of AE sensors.
Knee AEs were recorded in the 100-450 kHz and 15-200kH frequency ranges from a cadaver specimen in knee flexion/extension. Four stages of artificially inflicted cartilage damage and two sensor positions were investigated.
AE events in the lower frequency range and the following parameters provided better distinction between intact and damaged knee: hit amplitude, signal strength, and absolute energy. The medial condyle area of the knee was less prone to artefacts and unsystematic noise. Multiple reopenings of the knee compartment in the process of introducing the damage negatively affected the quality of the measurements.
Results may improve AE recording techniques in future cadaveric and clinical studies.
This was the first study to evaluate progressive cartilage damage using AEs in a cadaver specimen. The findings of this study encourage further investigation of joint AE monitoring techniques.
膝骨关节炎是目前导致老年人群体残疾的主要原因之一，由于人口老龄化和肥胖症的普遍存在，未来这一比例还将上升。然而，治疗效果的客观评估和远程评估仍有待进一步发展。声发射（AE）监测在膝关节诊断中已得到成功应用；然而，采用的 AE 技术和分析方法之间存在很大差异。本初步研究旨在确定最适合区分进行性软骨损伤的指标，以及最佳的 AE 传感器频率范围和位置。
在膝关节弯曲/伸展过程中，从尸体标本中记录 100-450 kHz 和 15-200 kHz 频率范围内的膝关节 AE。研究了人为造成的软骨损伤的四个阶段和两个传感器位置。
低频范围内的 AE 事件和以下参数提供了更好的区分完整和受损膝关节的方法：撞击幅度、信号强度和绝对能量。膝关节的内侧髁区域不易受到伪影和非系统性噪声的影响。在引入损伤过程中多次重新打开膝关节腔会对测量质量产生负面影响。
这些结果可能会改进未来尸体和临床研究中的 AE 记录技术。
这是第一项使用 AE 在尸体标本中评估进行性软骨损伤的研究。本研究的结果鼓励进一步研究关节 AE 监测技术。
