The public defence will be held as a video conference over Zoom.
The defence will follow regular procedure as far as possible, hence it will be open to the public and the audience can ask ex auditorio questions when invited to do so.
Click here to participate in the public defence
Due to copyright reasons, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. In order for the faculty to have time to process the order, it must be received by the faculty no later than 2 days prior to the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. Inquiries regarding the thesis after the public defence must be addressed to the candidate.
Digital Trial Lecture – time and place
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Sally Roberts, Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital
- Second opponent: Senior Consultant Sigbjørn Dimmen, Lovisenberg Diakonale sykehus
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor II Anne Eskild, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Stein-Erik Utvåg, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Senior Consultant Øystein Bjerkestrand Lian, Kristansund Hospital
Summary
Focal cartilage defects (FCDs) in the knee joint are associated with substantial health costs, patients can be exposed to patient injuries during treatment of these injuries and there is a lack of a biochemical marker that can detect early osteoarthritis (OA).
In his dissertation “Surgical aspects and microRNA in knee cartilage pathology” Tommy Frøseth Aae and colleagues have investigated the costs associated with the two most common surgical treatment options for FCDs in the knee joint, evaluated compensation claims in Scandinavia after FCD surgery and investigated whether circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) can be used as a blood marker to detect early OA.
They found that both surgical treatment options resulted in improvement in patients' symptoms, but microfracture had significantly lower costs and was more cost-effective than autologous chondrocyte implantation. This knowledge can complement the clinical decision-making process.
Furthermore, they found that compensation claims after surgical treatment of FCDs in the knee joint are rare. Despite that many are operated for these injuries, only a few submit compensation claims due to treatment errors. The reasons for this have not been identified and should be investigated further. The findings also shed light on the need to establish a cartilage surgery register to increase knowledge about surgical treatment of FCDs in the knee joint and improve patient safety.
Finally, they found equal expression levels of circulating microRNA for patients with and without OA, and that circulating microRNA cannot be used as a blood marker for early OA. The high incidence of microRNA variants, isomiRs, is striking and should be elucidated in future studies.
Additional information
Contact the research support staff.