“A magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) osteoarthritis definition requiring cartilage damage and a small osteophyte with or without bone marrow lesions or synovitis had the best performance and was simplest for identifying radiographic and symptomatic osteoarthritis,” according to a report from Liew et al published in Arthritis & Rheumatology. Though MRIs can more easily pick up the changes associated with osteoarthritis than a standard x-ray, there is no widely accepted MRI definition of knee osteoarthritis. Researchers compared definitions using combinations of MRI features to the validation criteria of prevalent radiographic osteoarthritis and symptomatic osteoarthritis. In a companion press release from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, corresponding author David T. Felson, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, commented, “Due to its higher sensitivity for detecting joint tissue changes associated with osteoarthritis, an MRI-based definition of structural disease would permit accurate characterization of those eligible for trials testing osteoarthritis treatments and allow inclusion of joints with earlier disease than those based on X-ray alone.”
May 25, 2023