Nanoscale quantitative surface roughness measurement of articular cartilage using second-order statistical-based biospeckle.

Quantitative measurement of nanoscale surface roughness of articular cartilage tissue is significant to assess the surface topography for early treatment of osteoarthritis, the most common joint disease worldwide. Since it was not established by clinical diagnostic tools, the current studies have been suggesting the use of alternative diagnostic tools using pre-clinical methods. This study aims to measure the nanoscale surface roughness of articular cartilage tissue utilizing biospeckle which is used as a non-destructive and non-contact optical imaging technique.

Estimation of Articular Cartilage Surface Roughness Using Gray-Level Co-Occurrence Matrix of Laser Speckle Image.

The application of He-Ne laser technologies for description of articular cartilage degeneration, one of the most common diseases worldwide, is an innovative usage of these technologies used primarily in material engineering. Plain radiography and magnetic resonance imaging are insufficient to allow the early assessment of the disease. As surface roughness of articular cartilage is an important indicator of articular cartilage degeneration progress, a safe and noncontact technique based on laser speckle image to estimate the surface roughness is provided.