Orthopaedics and Sports Medicine

Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a progressive and degenerative disease of the joints that causes impaired mobility and pain. It affects all joint tissues: cartilage, bone, synovium, tendons and ligaments. How these changes are orchestrated is not fully understood. We currently have no cure for osteoarthritis. At the end stage, joint replacement surgery is the main treatment option. By gaining more insight in osteoarthritis etiology, we aim to develop new treatments that can prevent the development of OA or delay the need for joint replacement surgery.

Sports & traumatic injuries

More and more patients are consulting sports physicians and orthopedic surgeons for injuries of cartilage, bone, tendon or ligaments due to trauma or sports. When these injuries are left untreated, there is a significant risk for the development of degenerative joint diseases. Our research focusses on the effectiveness of different treatment options and the development of new treatments to regenerate the damaged structures.

Skeletal growth and development

Osteoarthritis
Basic research
Prof. dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch

Clinical research
Prof. dr. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra
Prof.dr.ir. J. Harlaar

Prof.dr. J.B.J. van Meurs
Dr. M. Reijman
Dr. D.E. Meuffels
Dr. J. van Oldenrijk
Dr. J. Colaris


Skeletal growth and development
Basis research
Prof. dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch
Dr. R. Narcisi

Clinical research
Prof. dr. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra
Dr. M. Reijman
Prof. dr. ir. J. Harlaar
Dr. R. Agricola

Sports- and traumatic injuries
Basic research
Prof. dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch
Dr. R. Narcisi

Clinical research
Prof. dr. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra
Dr. M. Reijman
Prof. dr. ir. J. Harlaar
Dr. D.E. Meuffels
Dr. J. Colaris
Dr. R.J. de Vos
Dr. T. Piscaer

Research Line "Osteoarthritis"

• Study early phases of osteoarthritis to stop progression to chronic end-stage osteoarthritis or reverse this process
• Improve the surgical and non-surgical treatment of OA
• Develop new biological treatment methods
• Develop methods for the early-stage recognition of OA

Research Line "Sport and Traumatic Injuries"

• Determine risk factors for – and the long-term consequences of – sports injuries and trauma-related injuries 
• Improve surgical and non-surgical treatment options for sport and traumatic injuries
• Improve and develop regenerative treatments for cartilage, bone and tendon/ligament injuries

Research Line "Skeletal Growth and Development"

• Unravel the etiopathogenesis of joint development and the development of deformities during growth
• Improve treatment choices for children with growth and developmental disorders

Doctoral thesis

Eggerding, V. (2021, June).  Optimal treatment for patients after anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Prom/Coprom:  Prof.dr. S.M. Bierma-Zeinstra, Dr. M. Reijman, Dr. D.E. Meuffels.  https://repub.eur.nl/pub/135515

van Klij, P. (2021, March 10). The development of the non-perfect hip in young athletes. Prom/Coprom: Prof.dr. J.A.N. Verhaar, Dr. R. Agricola.Repub P. van Klij, embargo

Vainieri, ML (2021, February 18). Towards Cartilage Regeneration: Biomaterial-Assisted Cell-Free Approach in a Physiological Joint-like Environment. Prom/Coprom: Prof.dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/131288

Van der Vlist, AC (2021, January 20) Achilles Tendinopathy: risk factors, imaging, and treatment. Prom/Coprom: Prof.dr. J.A.N. Verhaar, Dr. R.J. de Vos. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/133300

Fokkema, T. (2020, December 2). Prognosis and Prevention of Injuries in Recreational Runners. Prom/Coprom: Prof.dr.S.M. Bierma-Zeinstra, M. van Middelkoop, R.J. de Vos https://repub.eur.nl/pub/124642

Tolk, JJ  (2020, June 2). Expectations and Outcome in Knee and Hip Arthroplasty. Prom/Coprom: S.M. Bierma-Zeinstra, M. Reijman, R.P.A. Janssen. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/127241

Eijgenraam SM (2020, January 22). The Meniscus Matters - Novel insights into imaging and treatment of meniscal pathology. Prom/coprom: Prof. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra, Dr. E.H.G. Oei, Dr. M. Reijman en Dr. D.E. Meuffels https://repub.eur.nl/pub/120794

Suijkerbuijk MAM (2020, January 8) Hamstring Tendon Regeneration Following Harvest for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction Prom/coprom: Prof.dr.G.J.V.M. van Osch, Dr. D.E. Meuffels, Dr. Y.M. Bastiaansen-Jenniskens https://repub.eur.nl/pub/121752

v Oldenrijk J. (2019, May 21) Short Incisions and Short Stems in Total Hip Arthroplasty. Prom/coprom: Prof.dr.C.N. van Dijk, dr. M.U. Schafroth, dr. R.W. Poolman https://www.orthopeden.org/downloads/654/proefschrift-jakob-van-oldenrijk.pdf?view=active

Fahmy-Garcia S.  (2019, May 2019) Towards in situ bone tissue engineering : an injectable system for protein delivery. Prom/coprom: Prof.dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch, Prof. Dr.J.P.T.M. van Leeuwen, Dr. E. Farrell, Dr. M. van Driel https://repub.eur.nl/pub/116479

Mumcuoglu, Z. D. (2018, May 9). Development of an injectable slow release system for  bone morphogenetic protein-2. Prom./coprom.: Prof. Dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch & S.G. Kluijtmans. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/105787

Pleumeekers, M. M.   (2018, juni 29). Face it: Cell-based therapy for the reconstruction of cartilage defects in the head and neck area. Prom./coprom.: Prof. Dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch & KS Stok. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/105992

Utomo, L.  (2018, september 18). Macrophage Phenotypes in Degenerative Joint Diseases. Prom./coprom.: Prof. Dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch, Prof. Dr. J.A.N. Verhaar & Dr. Y.M. Bastiaansen-Jenniskens. https://repub.eur.nl/pub/106448

Boersema, G.S.A. (2017, September 13). Major Abdominal Surgical Complications : Innovative Approaches. Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. J.F. Lange, Prof. Dr. G.J. Kleinrensink, Dr. Y.M. Bastiaansen-Jenniskens & Prof.Dr. J. Jeekel. - https://repub.eur.nl/pub/100857

Dorleijn, D.M.J. (2017, January 25). Hip Osteoarthritis : symptomatic presentation and non-operative treatment. Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra, Dr. P.A.J. Luijsterburg & Dr. P.K. Bos. - https://epubs.ogc.nl/?epub=d.dorleijn%20(Metis)

Grotenhuis, N. (2017, October 11). New Models for Patient-specific Evaluation of the Effect of Biomaterials on Macrophages. Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch, Prof. Dr. J.F. Lange & Dr. Y.M. Bastiaansen-Jenniskens. - https://repub.eur.nl/pub/101852

Vos, BC de (2017, February 7). Battling Obesity : Efforts in preventing knee osteoarthritis. Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. S.M.A. Bierma-Zeinstra & Dr. J. Runhaar. - https://repub.eur.nl/pub/95488

Wei, W. (2017, October 20). Adipose tissue and the knee? : role of inflammation on joint degeneration and cartilage repair. Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. G.J.V.M. van Osch, Prof. Dr. J.A.N. Verhaar & Dr. Y.M. Bastiaansen-Jenniskens. - https://repub.eur.nl/pub/102357

Windt, A.E. van der (2017, March 29). Calcineurin Inhibition at Physiological Osmolarity: Toward improving cartilage regeneration. EUR (209 pag.) Supervisor(s): Prof. Dr. Ir. H.H. Weinans & Prof. Dr. J.A.N. Verhaar. - https://repub.eur.nl/pub/98466

Kroon, L. de  (2017, October 23). A dive into TGHß signaling components during generation and degeneration of cartilage. Supervisors; van der Kraam PM, Van Osch GJVM, Narcisi R, Blaney Davidson N. - No link available

Upcoming defenses

December 2, 2021: Maarten Leijs

Intra-Articular Application of Mesenchymal Stem Cell Therapy for Osteoarthritis — The Next Step.

The research described in this thesis is a step towards a feasible cell therapy for OA. Culture-expanded MSCs appear to be safe. The OA environment primarily stimulates the immunomodulatory activity of MSCs. Encapsulation of non-autologous MSCs in combination with imaging techniques opens new possibilities for minimally invasive longitudinal follow-up studies in patients for the treatment of OA. This work stimulates further development of therapeutic delivery systems in OA. This is not limited to cell therapy, but also includes new cell-free constructs with, for example, cell secretome/conditioned medium, microvesicles and exosomes of MSCs. Further research into the effects of these treatments in different stages of osteoarthritis will have to take place in order to ultimately arrive at an effective injectable therapy for osteoarthritis.

Paranimfen

Wu Wei:w.wei@erasmusmc.nl

Joris Verkouteren: jorisverkouteren@hotmail.com

December 10, 2021; Joost Peerbooms

Platelet-Rich Plasma in Musculoskeletal Disorders; 'Trombocytenrijk plasma bij musculoskeletale aandoeningen'. 

In this thesis, the use of platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the treatment of some musculoskeletal disorders is evaluated. Several studies are described to improve knowledge about the basic principles of PRP and to demonstrate its advantages and disadvantages in various applications. 
Based on the studies presented in this thesis, our conclusion is that PRP injection outperforms corticosteroid injection when used for tennis elbow and plantar fasciitis. However, this does not definitively prove the positive effect of PRP injections. Negative effects of corticosteroid injections have been found, creating a bias towards the effectiveness of PRP. Future studies should form a real control group. Over the last few decades, PRP has made a place for itself in orthopaedic surgery and sports medicine. However, until now, studies regarding PRP have often been of limited quality. We recommend that future studies provide a detailed, precise, and stepwise description of the PRP preparation protocol used. Moreover, a standardized rehabilitation protocol should be used with all patients to promote post-injection uniformization. These steps will yield unambiguous comparisons between future studies and more accurate information on the true potential of PRP. Future studies should also include adverse effects, patient satisfaction, cost effectiveness, and quality of life measures among the primary outcomes. 

Paranimfen:

Roland van Ardenne rfvanardenne@hotmail.com

Pieter van der Woude  pvdwoude@gmail.com

Niamh Fahy

Shorouk Fahmy Garcia  (hospitality agreement)

Pedro Diaz Payno

Michele Fenu

Mike Broeders

Erin Macri

Kavitha Sivasubramaniyan (hospitality agreement)

Basic research

Mauricio Ferrao Blanco
Sohrab Khatab
Maarten Leijs
Chantal Voskamp
Tim Wesdorp
Jietao Xu

Clinical research