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MRI shows more tibiofemoral joint lesions in older patients without features of OA
Use of MRI indicated more lesions of the tibiofemoral joint in middle-aged and elderly people without radiographic evidence of osteoarthritis, according to this study.
“The higher the age, the higher the prevalence of all types of abnormalities detectable by MRI,” the researches wrote in the abstract.
The population-based observational study included 710 people aged 50 years and older from the Framingham, Mass., census tract data as well as random digit telephone dialing. All participants had no radiographic evidence of knee osteoarthritis (OA) and were ambulatory. After stratification for age, gender, body mass index (BMI) and knee pain, the main outcome measures included prevalence of knee OA on MRI. Researchers assessed pain by three different questions, as well as WOMAC questionnaire.
Researchers found 89% of participants had prevalence of any abnormality. The most common abnormality was osteophytes (74%), followed by cartilage damage (69%) and bone marrow lesions (52%). Study results showed a higher prevalence of all types of abnormalities detectable by MRI among older age groups.
Meniscal lesions were found in 35% of men had vs. 15% of women. Among BMI groups, researchers found no significant differences in the prevalence of knee OA features. There was a high prevalence of at least one type of pathology in both painful and painless knees.
“A longitudinal study is needed to determine what proportion of people without radiographic osteoarthritis but with MRI abnormalities subsequently develop radiographic osteoarthritis,” the researchers concluded.
Disclosure: The researchers are consultants for AstraZeneca, Genzyme, Merck Serono, National Institutes of Health, Novartis and Stryker; are funded by the Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Investigator Award, the Faculty of Medicine at Lund University, Sweden, the Greta and Johan Kock Foundation, King Gustaf V 80-year Birthday Foundation and the Swedish Research Council; are the president, vice president and a shareholder of Boston Imaging Core Lab LLC.