Musculo-skeletal disorders are the most frequent causes of morbidity, absence from work due to sickness and early invalidation; therefore, they represent the highest cost generator in the health and social care systems. They occur at all ages; however, the frequency of so-called degenerative diseases rises with an individual's age.
Ageing in our society is worsened as a result of musculo-skeletal disorders. Their abatement is given the highest priority by the Medical University of Vienna. Groups concerned with the planning of the field of research "musculo-skeletal disorders" have achieved enormous success in recent years. Prevention of chronic disease is presently also one of the main topics of the WHO: the WHO and UN have declared 2000 to 2010 to be the "Decade of the bone and joints".The most significant therapeutic developments of the last decade in the field of musculo-skeletal disorders have, in all probability, emerged from the use of biologicals. Further methods of treatment are being developed; industry is investing large sums of money in this field.
Prominence in numerous publications and independence in terms of traditional funding such as FWF [Austrian Science Fund], Nationalbank and city funding characterise this branch of research. The areas of focus have acquired EU funding of over EUR 1.6 million in recent years. We have also been involved in various projects and programmes such as the START project, the investigator driven clinical trials, in the European SLE study and the European study of RA. In consequence, in cooperation with Osteoradiology, a clinical trials unit for imaging will be developed in the Clinical Department for Rheumatology. Close cooperation in fundamental research and imaging already exists between the organisational units concerned. The Clinical Department for Rheumatology has even been named "Centre of Excellence for Rheumatology Research" by the European League Against Rheumatism. State-of-the-art imaging modalities have been acquired and a real time database for patients with musculo-skeletal disorders established; in cooperation with KIMCL, a so-called "biobank" has also been established. Particular value is given to intensive participation in the doctrine of the new curriculum of MedUni Vienna and co-editorial responsibilities with leading international textbooks.
Three professorial appointments have been achieved with organisations outside of MedUni Vienna: the Professorship for Orthopaedics and Rheumatology at the Medical University of Graz and the Professorship for Rheumatology "New School" at the Medical Faculty in Erlangen. No other university in Austria disposes of similar areas of study in this field of research; additionally, MedUni Vienna disposes of favourable prerequisites in terms of the acquisition of EU research funding in FP7 and for the acquisition of further industry funding for the development of new treatment procedures. The potential of expanding the thinking behind a clinical trial centre to other fields, in cooperation with other departments of the university, is conceivable.
