From paper to prototype: MaltaKnee

Knee replacement surgery in its current form is not suitable for all those who suffer with debilitating pain due to arthritis. While pain can be managed with medication to an extent, there is currently no way to treat the severe stages of the condition without invasive surgery.

A team of researchers from the University of Malta are looking to change this. In a project called MaltaKnee, funded by MCST (R&I2019-027-T), these medical and engineering researchers are working with industrial partner EMPAV Engineering Ltd to develop a small elastic-like implant that could be placed directly in the arthritic knee joint.

The implant is tiny, so it can be delivered using simple surgery that doesn’t involve such long recovery as joint-replacement surgery. Once there, the bubble can substitute the job of the cartilage – protecting the joint by shock-absorbing the forces caused during movement.

MaltaKnee should streamline treatment for arthritis, making it accessible for people for whom joint replacement is not an option. The team is currently testing prototypes to see how they would react in different conditions that mimic the environment in the joint, but they hope that this could offer hope to those struggling with pain, without the need for major surgery.

While the prospects of MaltaKnee are exciting, the product will not be used by local hospitals in the short-term. The project aims to fund the research needed to test their hypothesis and to create a prototype. However, rigorous testing and future clinical trials need to be conducted in order to ensure the implant passes the regulatory process before it can be made available as a treatment.

MaltaKnee (R&I-2019-027-T) is financed by the Malta Council for Science and Technology through the Fusion: R&I Technology Development Programme