Abstract
Throughout the 2023 Spring semester I worked in Dr. Lake’s musculoskeletal soft tissue lab on the Post Traumatic Joint Contracture(PTJC) project. This project has developed a rat model of the elbow to try to better understand the causes and treatments for PTJC. I have worked on two different projects within the larger PTJC project this semester. The first project tested the range of motion in rats immediately after sacrifice, and then after freeze thaw cycles. The typical procedure used for experiments in the lab is to sacrifice the animals and then freeze them before performing range of motion testing. This project tested the animals range of motion immediately after sacrifice and then again after the elbow had been frozen to investigate whether there would be a change in the range of motion(flexion-extension). The second project involved tracing the capsule and cartilage on rat elbow MRI images. The tracings serve as input data for a machine learning algorithm that is aiming to predict when a patient will develop PTJC and how to treat it. MRI is a non invasive method to visualize the elbow joint. The goal of this project is to use machine learning to identify the capsule and enhance lower quality MRI images to diagnose PTJC.
Document Type
Final Report
Class Name
Mechanical Engineering and Material Sciences Independent Study
Date of Submission
5-22-2023
Recommended Citation
Miller, Sophia, "PTJC Project: Effect of freeze thaw cycles on elbow mobility and the use of machine learning to analyze MRI images of the anterior capsule" (2023). Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study. 235.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/mems500/235