Early Detection of Osteoarthritis Research
- Osteoarthritis, the most prevalent kind of arthritis, afflicts 3 million Canadians.
- Although the prevalence of osteoarthritis increases in direct correspondence with age, people of working age (20-64) comprise close to 60 per cent of Canadians with arthritis.
- Arthritis disables two to three times more workers than all other chronic conditions.
- There is no cure for arthritis.
- The only effective long-term treatment for hip osteoarthritis is joint replacement.
CHHM Challenge:
The key challenges to minimizing the impact of hip osteoarthritis (OA)
are discovering the risk factors for the disease and mapping the trajectory of the disease as it progresses.
CHHM Solution:
The CHHM is the first research centre in the world to use a combination of biochemical and medical imaging screening in conjunction with sophisticated epidemiological modeling to identify patients at-risk for hip OA. This work will allow us to reduce the impact of OA by identifying modifiable risk factors that can be targeted, just as cancer reduction has targeted smoking.
Weight-bearing MRI - First of its kind in Canada
CHHM researchers will use a weight-bearing MRI scanner to study how hip joint mechanics influence who gets hip osteoarthritis, when it develops and how it can be treated. This scanner has the unique capability to image the hip while subjects are standing and moving their hips, which gives CHHM investigators an unprecedented opportunity to study biomechanical risk factors. CHHM investigators will also develop "superimaging" techniques that combine images from different types of scanners (CT, MR, DXA, pQCT) to show arthritic changes in different parts of the hip much earlier than was previously possible.
BC-wide OA database
CHHM epidemiological researchers will identify the first large-scale cohort of patients with early hip osteoarthritis. In collaboration with the BC Ministry of Health, they will develop a BC-wide OA database including more than 500,000 cases. What makes this a unique resource for unraveling the determinants of hip osteoarthritis is the large size of the database and the specific arthritis-relevant data.
Understanding the Trajectory of Hip Osteoarthritis
By applying imaging and biochemical innovations to the large-scale osteoarthritis cohort, CHHM researchers will produce an unparalleled description of the hip OA trajectory - the variable and poorly-understood rate and sequence of symptom progression. This description could be the "Rosetta stone" for osteoarthritis that is necessary to improve detection, risk reduction and treatment for its many sufferers.
Co-Theme Leader
Early Detection of Osteoarthritis
Jacek Kopec, MD, Ph.D
Associate Professor
University of British Columbia
Co-Theme Leader
Early Detection of Osteoarthritis
David Wilson, DPhil
Associate Professor
University of British Columbia
Innovative Laboratories for Early Detection of Osteoarthritis
Canada's First Weightbearing Open MRI Scanner
- Advanced Medical Image Processing Lab
- Population Health Research Lab
Innovative Approaches for Early Detection of Osteoarthritis
- BC Hip Registry
- Lifetime Disease Map
- Superimaging
- Transdisciplinary Teams