| EPSRC Reference: |
GR/M59037/01 |
| Title: |
CLINICAL INDICATORS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND PROGNOSIS OF LOW BACK PAIN |
| Principal Investigator: |
Urban, Dr J |
| Other Investigators: |
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| Project Partners: |
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| Department: |
Physiology Anatomy and Genetics |
| Organisation: |
University of Oxford |
| Scheme: |
Standard Research (Pre-FEC) |
| Starts: |
01 March 2000 |
Ends: |
31 October 2003 |
Value (£): |
226,445
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| EPSRC Research Topic Classifications: |
| Med.Instrument.Device& Equip. |
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| EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications: |
| Healthcare |
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors |
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Summary on Grant Application Form |
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Back pain affects a significant proportion of people of working age;Apart from the suffering and cost to the individual, the total of costs from lost production, benefits and direct costs to the health services are estimated at more than 5 billion/yr. At present various imaging methods are used for diagnosis but there is no agreement on clinical interpretation of results as can be seen by the wide variations in treatments between centres and countries. We thus propose to develop diagnostic tools which by measuring biochemical and metabolic parameters will give more precise methods of determining clinical diagnoses and treatments. We will develop needle micro-electrodes for measuring metabolic parameters such as glucose and lactate concentrations as markers of disc cell metabolism, neuropeptides, superoxide and NO as markers of pain and inflammation and Na as a marker of matrix composition. These electrodes will be inserted into the disc during routine discographic examinations. The resulting measurements will be correlated with clinical symptoms, MRI images and composition of the disc removed at surgery in order to develop diagnostic criteria.
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Key Findings |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Potential use in non-academic contexts |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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Impacts |
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| Description |
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk |
| Summary |
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| Date Materialised |
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher |
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This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
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| Project URL: |
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| Further Information: |
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| Organisation Website: |
http://www.ox.ac.uk |