With a new device, VieCuri hospital in Venlo wants to take a major step in research into crystal diseases such as the rheumatic disease gout.
The hospital will examine patients’ synovial fluid with the Raman spectroscope, which will make new crystals recognizable and insightful at a much more specific level.
Faster and better
In the future, the Raman spectroscope will enable faster and better diagnosis than hitherto, the hospital says. According to researcher Tom Niessink, this is positive news for patients. “If you have a certain diagnosis, you can certainly be treated in a more targeted way. And new medication is also coming onto the market that can also continue on those dates,” says the VieCuri researcher.
In addition, if a patient is treated earlier, complex gout can be prevented in some cases.
World first
According to VieCuri, they are the first hospital worldwide to have such a device for medical diagnoses. As a top clinical hospital that conducts research into gout, the Venlo nursing home has the opportunity to use this novelty in collaboration with the University of Twente.
The first results are hopeful, according to Niessink. “The device does exactly what I expected. If the neurologist says with certainty, ‘That is gout, then it is certain that gout will come out, for example. Those are things that are very important for validation,” according to him.
Osteoarthritis, Alzheimer’s and arteriosclerosis
Initially, the research focuses on the rheumatic disease. In time, the Raman spectroscope will also be used for research into other diseases in which crystals play a role, such as forms of osteoarthritis, Alzheimer’s and arteriosclerosis.