title: Obesity-related juvenile form of cartilage lesions: a new affliction in the knees of morbidly obese children and adolescents.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Overweight and obesity are afflictions that lead to an increased risk of health problems including joint problems. The aim of the study was to assess the condition of articular cartilage in obese adolescent patients suffering from knee pain.
  
  
  METHODS
  MRI of 24 knees of 20 morbidly obese patients, mean age 14.2 years, was performed in an open 1.0 Tesla MR system, where the cartilage, the quality and structure of the menisci, and the presence or absence of surrounding changes was examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In all patients a cartilage lesion in at least one region of the knee could be detected. Retropatellar cartilage lesions have been found in 19 knees. Ten cartilage lesions grade I, and four lesions grade II have been described in the lateral compartment of the knee, whereas the medial compartment showed in eight cases a grade I, in 13 cases a grade II and in two cases a grade III cartilage lesion. Meniscal changes were assessed in most patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Morbidly obese children and adolescents show major abnormalities in the articular cartilage of the knee. Whether obesity alone is the causal factor for the development of the pattern of these changes, remains to be seen.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  • Morbidly obese children and adolescents often suffer from knee pain • Prospective study showed cartilage and meniscal lesions in morbidly obese adolescents • MRI is an adequate tool for assessing cartilage lesions even in morbidly obese patients • It is unclear whether cartilage abnormalities are mainly due to mechanical overload.
authors.affiliation: Center for Joints and Cartilage, Department of Traumatology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. harald.widhalm@meduniwien.ac.at
authors.forename: Harald K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Widhalm
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Marlovits
authors.forename: Goetz H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Welsch
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dirisamer
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Neuhold
authors.forename: Martijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: van Griensven
authors.forename: Rudolf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seemann
authors.forename: Vilmos
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vécsei
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Widhalm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000209:etiology*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000150:complications*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult