Abstract
Sport injuries account for 10-20% of all acute injuries treated in the emergency room. From this, the most common injuries are knee and ankle injuries. Injury-prevention techniques rely on understanding the injury mechanisms. The focus in this project will be on anterior-cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture in the knee joint and high ankle sprains (syndesmosis injury) as they are difficult to diagnose and often are misdiagnosed potentially leading to chronic instability.
To improve diagnosis, a novel imaging technique, standing CT, is used as knee and ankle joints can be imaged under standing conditions rather than the currently used supine position. A novel medical device is developed to extend the standing CT from static testing to dynamic testing. The prototype allows for internal/external rotation and varus/valgus rotation in the ankle joint to simulate different positions of the foot.
Kinematic measurements allow for measurement of the joint laxity in the knee and ankle, which has been focus of the PI's previous research. ACL deficient knees will be tested in-vitro to define when ACL rupture occurs. Ankle syndesmosis conditions will be simulated in an in-vitro test validating the new prototype. The final step in this research is a first-in-human test in the standing CT to evaluate if the position of the foot is inducing ACL rupture or high ankle sprains. As follow up of this project, an IOF project will be taken on to bring the device on the market.
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