title: The degeneration and destruction of femoral articular cartilage shows a greater degree of deterioration than that of the tibial and patellar articular cartilage in early stage knee osteoarthritis: a cross-sectional study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to examine whether the degenerative and morphological changes of articular cartilage in early stage knee osteoarthritis (OA) occurred equally for both femoral- and tibial- or patellar- articular cartilage using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based analyses.
  
  
  METHODS
  This cross-sectional study was approved by the ethics committee of our university. Fifty patients with early stage painful knee OA were enrolled. The patients underwent 3.0 T MRI on the affected knee joint. Healthy volunteers who did not show MRI-based OA changes were also recruited as controls (n = 19). The degenerative changes of the articular cartilage were quantified by a T2 mapping analysis, and any structural changes were conducted using Whole Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS) technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All patients showed MRI-detected OA morphological changes. The T2 values of femoral condyle (FC) (P < 0.0001) and groove (P = 0.0001) in patients with early stage knee OA were significantly increased in comparison to those in the control, while no significant differences in the T2 values of patellar and tibial plateau (TP) were observed between the patients and the control. The WORMS cartilage and osteophyte scores of the femoral articular cartilage were significantly higher than those in the patellar- (P = 0.001 and P = 0.007, respectively) and tibial- (P = 0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively) articular cartilage in the patients with early stage knee OA.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The degradation and destruction of the femoral articular cartilage demonstrated a greater degree of deterioration than those of the tibial- and patellar- articular cartilage in patients with early stage knee OA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: shada@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hada
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: harukago@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: rsadatsu@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sadatsuki
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: liulizu@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: ippei@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Futami
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: mayukok@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: anwarjan108@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yusup
authors.affiliation: Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: saita0617@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Saita
authors.affiliation: Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: ytakaza@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takazawa
authors.affiliation: Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: hrikeda@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ikeda
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: k-kaneko@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine for Orthopaedics and Motor Organ, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan; Sportology Center, Juntendo University Graduate School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Electronic address: ishijima@juntendo.ac.jp.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ishijima
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002357:Cartilage Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D002358:Cartilage, Articular / Q000473:pathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005269:Femur / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007719:Knee Joint / Q000473:pathology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020370:Osteoarthritis, Knee / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology*; D054850:Osteophyte / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D010329:Patella / Q000473:pathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013977:Tibia / Q000473:pathology*
keywords: Cartilage lesion; Knee osteoarthritis; Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Osteophyte; T2 mapping; Whole Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score (WORMS)