Vibration Arthrography as a Diagnostic Method for Osteoarthritis of the Knee joint

The technique of vibration arthrography (VAG) permits the non-invasive evaluation of internal derangements of the knee. In this method, the delicate sounds emitted from a joint are recorded by a sensitive detector which is placed on a joint, and the resultant signals are depicted by an oscilloscope. The primary objective in this study was to examine the vibration signal patterns associated with osteoarthritis of the knee. Using the computer-assisted recording and analysis equipment, a major survey was conducted into the signal patterns present in subjects with either symptomatic or normal knee joints. The results of this experiment demonstrated that the VAG technique is a non-invasive and sensitive tool for early detection of osteoarthritis of the knee joint. Additionally, it was shown that by putting an accelerator on the patella of the left knee with ostheoarthrosis, we will achieve a more characteristic signal of this abnormality; in other words, no significant difference between signals was recorded from medial, lateral, and patella of the right knee (p>0.05). The reason for this finding could be less physiologic arthrokinematic sounds under the patella of the left knee. In order to facilitate this presentation, we start with a brief review of the VAG signal’s history and the anatomical structure of the knee joint. At the end of this paper, some new directions for analyzing vibration arthrography signals in the clinical examination also summarized.