In Vitro Microstructural and Mechanical Analysis of Waste Material From Total Knee Arthroplasty for the Study of Innovative Solutions in the Treatment of Joint and Ligament Pathologies

In orthopedic surgical practice, there is an increasing incidence of degenerative joint diseases, due to the rising average age of the population, as well as ligament injuries resulting from the growing participation in sports activities. The knee joint, in particular, is the most affected by these conditions, which, given their heterogeneous nature, impact patients across a wide age range. Knee pathologies, often interconnected (with a higher incidence of degenerative diseases following ligamentous and/or meniscal injuries), are particularly debilitating for patients and entail high costs for the national healthcare system, which are expected to increase over time. Scientific efforts in the field of knee surgery are therefore focused on achieving an increasingly detailed understanding of pathological conditions, as well as on the development of innovative technologies to support surgical and clinical practice. Carrying out such analyses and developing new technologies inevitably involves experimental laboratory studies of joint tissues. The study of waste material obtained from surgical procedures represents a fundamental resource in this context and has always been used safely, with no additional invasiveness for the patient. A vast amount of information derived from laboratory analyses of discarded tissue has contributed to improving clinical practice and has led to the development of solutions that are now part of routine surgical use. Recent technologies allow increasingly accurate evaluation of both the structure and mechanical properties of discarded tissue explanted during surgery. For example, structural assessment using micro-CT enables visualization and analysis of the interface between bone tissue, ligamentous structures, and surgical implants with micrometric precision. This makes it possible to determine tissue density, orientation, and material quality, distinguishing between different boundary conditions and physiopathological states of the tissu