Prevention of osteoarthritis following injury with Dr Fiona Watt

Joint injury is a major risk factor for developing osteoarthritis. For any given knee injury, about 50% of people will go on to develop osteoarthritis, regardless of if they have had surgical intervention or not. Osteoarthritis which follows a significant joint injury is sometimes called “post-traumatic osteoarthritis” or “PTOA” – many believe that PTOA represents a disease subgroup or phenotype of osteoarthritis. Joint injury is usually well-defined and easy to pinpoint in time allowing opportunities to better understand the early mechanisms of OA. Preclinical research has provided further insights on the development of PTOA and how certain molecules and pathways can be targeted to reduce or prevent OA following a joint injury. On this week’s episode of Joint Action, Dr Fiona Watt joins us to discuss prevention of osteoarthritis following injury.

Fiona is a Clinical Reader in Rheumatology in the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial College London, having previously been an Associate Professor at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology at the University of Oxford for a number of years, where she had completed her PhD in cartilage biochemistry in 2009. She was appointed as an honorary consultant rheumatologist in 2013. She leads the Clinical Translation theme within the Centre for Osteoarthritis Pathogenesis funded by Versus Arthritis. In 2019 she was awarded a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship. Her research interest aims to develop new predictive tests and treatments in high risk groups for osteoarthritis.

RESOURCES

Journal articles

· Prevention of posttraumatic osteoarthritis at the time of injury: Where are we now, and where are we going?

· Posttraumatic osteoarthritis: what have we learned to advance osteoarthritis?

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