MILAN (ITALPRESS) – An estimated four million people in Italy suffer from osteoarthritis, especially after the age of 60. The inflammation that causes osteoarthritis is due to injury to articular cartilage. In the case of the knee, the layer of cartilage prevents rubbing between the femur, tibia, and patella. When the cartilage wears away or thins, friction is created between the femur and tibia causing pain and stiffness. In less severe cases, these symptoms can be controlled with conservative and regenerative therapies, usually with a good recovery, but when the joint is too compromised, prosthetic surgery is used. These are some of the topics discussed by Professor Walter Pascale, head of arthroscopy and knee surgery at IRCCS Ospedale Galeazzi-Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, interviewed by Marco Klinger, for Medicina Top, a TV format of the Italpress news agency. “A joint like the knee is made up of two joint heads, but around this bony structure there are multiple elements, which give stability to the healthy knee: the ligaments, the menisci, the membranes,” he began. “If all of this is good, it is clear that the knee is healthy. Unlike many other diseases, it is quite simple, on paper, to prevent osteoarthritis: “Osteoarthritis can be fought with the classic tips: nutrition, physical activity, keeping the muscle tone of the leg, these are all things that prevent osteoarthritis,” Pascale explained. “The knee is something that over time of wear and tear. In the last 20 years there is a lot of talk about cartilage, but it is like paint on a wall, what is important is the wall, that is the bone. In the last few years a lot of studies have been directed at treating cartilage, but it has been seen that degeneration also affects the bone, it’s all much more complex,” he stressed. And on the various techniques for treating an unhealthy knee, which change according to the level of wear and tear on the joint: “In a particularly worn knee there are areas of degeneration. Before we get to a stage where it is impossible to exercise conservative therapy, we have to try to do everything necessary, starting with the physiotherapeutic approach, then you can use supplements, but they leave time to be found,” the professor pointed out. “That’s how infiltrations came about, that’s the great discovery of hyaluronic acid. It has been used for at least 40-50 years, there are various types of products, and in this case it is not true that the more it costs the more it works, this is not the approach, you have to take the correct hyaluronic acid with respect to the pathology we are treating. In recent times, the next step has been the development of infiltrations, injecting stem cells or platelet growth factors,” Pascale recalled. “These are new techniques that make the biological improvement of the joint be enhanced. If the therapies are unsuccessful, all that remains is to rely on prosthetic surgery. “If all this does not work, there is prosthetic-type surgery,” he pointed out.The prostheses are implanted with a mini-invasive technique, there is a great evolution from the past at the level of materials. Finally, on the most common knee pain due to inflammation: “The knee pain that many people have is related to inflammation, and the latest generation of anti-inflammatories are used to treat it. I don’t love them, but undoubtedly in the acute phase they can give benefit along with many procedures such as ice, knee pads, doing exercises right away. These are the important things,” he concluded, “And the big revolution will be the development of nanotechnology.
– photo taken from Top Medicine video -(ITALPRESS).
