Establishment of objective rehabilitation index based on ligament remodeling after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

• Project/Area Number: 16K16436
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Rehabilitation science/Welfare engineering
• Research Institution: Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Nakagawa Shuji 京都府立医科大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 助教 (30643382)
• Research Collaborator: ARAI Yuji ; ICHIMARU Shohei ; SHIMOMURA Seiji
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
• Budget Amount: ¥3,640,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥840,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,690,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥390,000); Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,950,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥450,000)
• Keywords: MRI / rehabilitation / ACL reconstruction / 前十字靭帯 / 前十字靭帯損傷 / リモデリング / リハビリテーション

Outline of Final Research Achievements

To elucidate the relationship between tendon graft remodeling and contrast-enhanced MRI findings after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction, histological change and enhancement in contrast-enhanced MRI using animal tendon graft model. In the process of remodeling of the transplanted tendon, contrast-enhanced MRI initially showed only around the transplanted tendon, but the contrasting effect also became apparent also inside the transplanted tendon over time. The results of this study revealed that the findings of MRI clearly delineate the grafting process of the transplanted tendon. The use of MRI will be the basis of a rehabilitation index to estimate the strength of the graft tendon after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ACL損傷後にアスレチックリハビリテーションが行われているが、復帰への客観的な指標が存在しない。最も重要なことは再断裂などの再受傷を確実に予防することである。本研究によってMRIによる侵襲の少ない評価を行うことで、ACL再建患者さんに、安全なテーラーメイドリハビリテーションを適応することが可能とする基礎的データを構築できたと考える。

Research Products

• [Presentation] Histological evaluation of treadmill running on knee joint of rat arthritis model (2018)
  • Author(s): Fujii Y, Inoue H, Arai Y, Nakagawa S, Tsuchida S, Shimomura S, Mazda O, Kubo T
  • Organizer: 26th Annual Meeting of European Orthopaedic Reserch Society
• [Presentation] Regulation of inflammatory cytokine expression and osteoclastgenesis by gap junctional protein in vitro and in vivo. (2017)
  • Author(s): Seiji Shimomura, Shinji Tsuchida, Yuji Arai, Shuji Nakagawa, Hiroaki Inoue, Shohei Ichimaru, Yuta Fujii, Osam Mazda, Toshikazu Kubo
  • Organizer: The 5th annual meeting of the international cytokine and interferon society
  • Int'l Joint Research