title: The association between meniscal damage of the posterior horns and localized posterior synovitis detected on T1-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI--the MOST study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Synovitis is thought to be a secondary phenomenon in the osteoarthritis (OA) process and the menisci might be triggers of localized synovitis. The aim was to assess the cross-sectional associations of posterior horn meniscal damage with perimeniscal synovitis, and with synovitis posterior to the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) using contrast enhanced (CE) MRI.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST) Study is a longitudinal observational study of subjects with or at risk for knee OA. Subjects are a subset of MOST who were examined with 1.5T CE MRI and had semiquantitative synovitis (scored from 0 to 2 at 11 locations) and meniscal readings (scored with WORMS from 0 to 4) available. Logistic regression was used to assess the association of posterior meniscal damage and perimeniscal synovitis in the same compartment, and between posterior meniscal damage and synovitis posterior to the PCL.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Three hundred and seventy seven knees were included (mean age 61.1 years±6.9, mean BMI 29.6±4.9, 44.3% women). The odds for ipsi-compartmental perimeniscal synovitis were increased for knees with medial posterior horn meniscal damage (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.5, 95% confidence intervals [95% CI] 1.3,4.8), but not for lateral damage (aOR 1.7, 95% CI 0.4,6.6). No positive associations were found for meniscal damage and presence of synovitis posterior to the PCL (aOR 0.9, 95% CI 0.6,1.5).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Meniscal damage of the posterior horns is associated with ipsi-compartmental perimensical synovitis. No associations were found for posterior horn meniscal damage with synovitis posterior to the PCL, which suggests that synovitis posterior to the PCL is likely to be triggered by different pathomechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Quantitative Imaging Center (QIC), Department of Radiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA. froemer@bu.edu
authors.forename: Frank W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Roemer
authors.forename: David T
authors.initials: DT
authors.lastname: Felson
authors.forename: Tianzhong
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Jingbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Niu
authors.forename: Michel D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Crema
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Englund
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Nevitt
authors.forename: Yuqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: John A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Lynch
authors.forename: George Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: El Khoury
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Torner
authors.forename: Cora E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Guermazi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008592:Menisci, Tibial / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D016119:Posterior Cruciate Ligament / Q000473:pathology; D013585:Synovitis / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*