Thesis (M.S.)--Boise State University, 2009. / Title from t.p. of PDF file (viewed May 6, 2010). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 58-60).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, March, 2005. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references (p. 118-125)

Thesis (M.S.)--Indiana University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the management approach of acute knee dislocations (AKDs) by orthopaedic surgeons from nations with different economic status. Methods: A survey sent to members of the Societe Internationale de Chirurgie Orthopedique et de Traumatologie (SICOT) compared different management strategies for acute multiligament knee injuries (aMLKIs). These were compared after categorising surgeons into developed economic nations (DEN) and emerging markets and developing nations (EMDN) based on the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. Results: 138 orthopaedic surgeons from 47 countries participated in this study. DEN surgeons had more years of experience and were older (p <0.05). Surgeons from EMDN preferred conservative management and delayed reconstruction with autograft (p<0.05) if surgery was necessary. Surgeons from DEN favoured early, single stage arthroscopic ligament reconstruction. Significantly more EMDN surgeons preferred clinical examination (p<0.05) and duplex doppler scanning (p<0.05) compared to DEN surgeons. More surgeons from EMDN did not have access to a physiotherapist for their patients. Conclusions: Treatment of aMLKIs varied significantly based on the economic status of the country. In EMDN, aMLKIs are often treated conservatively, ligament surgery is often delayed and staged, alternative vascular assessment methods are more commonly used, and access to physiotherapy is challenging. This calls for adjusted guidelines when treating patients in areas of low resource setting.

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The goal of this thesis is to investigate the possibility of using vibration analysis to detect and assess a very common joint disease known as osteoarthritis (OA). For this purpose, patients with various levels of OA, healthy to severe OA, were recruited and MRI and vibration recordings were made on both knees. MRI images were analyzed by a radiologist and different symptoms related to osteoarthritis in the knee were scored for each observation. Vibration signals of the patients' knees were recorded using 5 accelerometers placed at different locations of the knee. This thesis divides into two major sections; the first section deals with design of an apparatus (a function specific brace and the electronic hardware) for acquiring and recording vibration data from a patient's knee. The second section deals with the analysis of the recorded data using a combination of signal processing techniques (Fourier and wavelet transforms) and multivariate statistical methods (principal component (PCA) and partial least square (PLS)). The brace designed and built for the purpose of this research has several unique properties not found in commercial knee braces. It provides a robust and secure base for attachment of the sensors to the knee and shows very good adaptation to the dynamics of the knee during motion. In the analysis section we show that combining signal processing and multivariate statistical techniques (such as PCA and PLS) provides strong tools for analysis of the data. The result of our analysis shows that there is a strong correlation between vibration analysis and some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis such as cartilage degeneration and formation of osteophytes. We conclude that vibration signals of the knee joint (crepitus) during flexion/extension cycle of the knee, when it is under stress, can be a good indicator of the general severity of OA in patients. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

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