Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease characterized by progressive damage of articular cartilage, subchondral bone changes, osteophyte formation, and synovial inflammation. Current treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) is aimed at reducing pain, minimizing functional disability, and limiting progression of damage. There is no cure available. Osteoarthritis is the most frequent form of musculoskeletal disorder, affecting over 10% of the adult population, with serious medical, social, and economic impact, since it causes many restrictions in daily life, specifically for the aged population.
The central theme is:
Modulation of cartilage, synovium, and bone to prevent and when possible cure joint damage.
This disease causes significant pain and disability in 25% of people over the age of 60 and concerns for half of all chronic conditions in people aged over 65 years. The number of individuals over the age of 50 is expected to double between 1990 and 2020. For the first time in history, by 2010 there will be more people in Europe over 60 years of age than people less than 20 years of age, resulting in an escalation of medical costs, due to diseases related to age such as OA. Presently OA ranks in the top 5 of health costs in Europe. Annual costs of the 25 million affected Europeans are about 90 million Euro. Any treatment (or improvement) that adds to restrain the social economic impact of this disease will be of relevance to the society.
The research lines within this theme are:
- Blood induced joint damage
- Causes of development and progression of osteoarthritis
- Effects of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and disease modifying osteoarthritic drugs (DMOADs) in treatment of osteoarthritis
- Joint distraction in treatment of severe osteoarthritis
- Non-pharmacological treatment of osteoarhritis