IIT Roorkee Researchers Develop A New, Low Cost Method For Treatment Of Osteoarthritis - The India Saga

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IIT Roorkee Researchers Develop A New, Low Cost Method For Treatment Of Osteoarthritis

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee have developed a new, low-cost method for treating Osteoarthritis– a degenerative joint…

IIT Roorkee Researchers Develop A New, Low Cost Method For Treatment Of Osteoarthritis

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee have developed a new, low-cost method for treating Osteoarthritis– a degenerative joint disease which leads to loss of bone cartilage and eventual inflammation of bone and joints.

The new treatment involves injecting ferro-magnetic nano-particles with thermal properties for treatment of the afflicted knee joints. The research published in the `Journal for Materials ScienceÂBiomaterials.   

According to a member of the research team, Prof K.L. Yadav, the team at IIT Roorkee developed a specific ferrite nano-material, which will provide prolonged thermo-regulated treatment.  These polymers based nano-particles when injected around the knee joint along with normal heat therapy will be able to provide long term heat therapy for the patient.

ÂCurrently, the treatment of osteoarthritis is done using anti-inflammatory drugs and steroids, which have critical side effects on patients. Also, the treatment using such drugs cannot inhibit the natural progression of this degenerative disease,ÂÂ says Prof Yadav, Head of Physics Department at IIT, Roorkee.

“Other than these, techniques such as knee replacement are also used, but are expensive and have a long recovery time. We wanted to develop a low cost, affordable, safe and simple therapeutic technique to inhibit the progression of the disease and enable the patient to recover faster, Prof Yadav said.  

ÂWe developed magnetic polymer matrix composite using ferromagnetic nano-particle structures insulated with Poly (vinylidene fluoride) polymer. It is proposed that the synthesized material in a liquid form may be injected into the affected knee joint. Once the liquid is inserted into the knee joint, the hyperthermia treatment through electromagnetic radiation can be given on the specific area at regular intervals. The heat generated during this process by the nano-particles will spread over the afflicted area for a long duration without affecting the nearby cells or tissues. This will help us in getting a focussed treatment only in the area where the therapy is required, he explained.

The IIT Roorkee is among the foremost of institutes of national importance in higher technological education and in engineering, basic and applied research. Since its establishment, the Institute has played a vital role in providing the technical manpower and know-how to the country and in pursuit of research.

The Institute ranks amongst the best technological institutions in the world and has contributed to all sectors of technological development. The Institute had celebrated its Sesquicentennial in October 1996 and now completed more than 170 years of its existence. It was converted to IIT on September 21, 2001.  

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