EDITORIAL

Osteoarthritis is not a cartilage disease

Yet more evidence that osteoarthritis is not a cartilage disease

K D Brandt¹, E L Radin², P A Dieppe³, L van de Putte⁴

¹ Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, USA
² Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA
³ University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
⁴ University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
K D Brandt
Indiana University School of Medicine, 8829 Rexford Road, IN 46260, USA; kenbrandt1@comcast.net

Accepted 17 July 2006

---

A better insight into the realities behind osteoarthritis

---

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In this issue of the Annals of Rheumatic Diseases, Tan et al¹ report the results of high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (hrMRI) of interphalangeal joints of 20 subjects who had "clinically osteoarthritic" and painful finger joints for <l year. The MRI observations are supported by histological and radiographic examination of dissecting room specimens of apparently non-arthritic interphalangeal joints from three elderly people, and are an extension of earlier work by the same group of investigators.² Their findings indicate that structural changes in the collateral ligaments of the interphalangeal joints were uniformly present even when the articular cartilage appeared normal. The authors concluded that " ... the role of ligaments as an initiating or perpetuating factor in the pathogenesis of non-traumatic knee and hip disease merits attention. The damage evident within the small joint collateral ligaments raises the possibility that this is the principal site . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Combined high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging and histological examination to explore the role of ligaments and tendons in the phenotypic expression of early hand osteoarthritis

A L Tan, H Toumi, M Benjamin, A J Grainger, S F Tanner, P Emery, and D McGonagle
Ann Rheum Dis 2006 65: 1267-1272. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Hunter, D. J. (2009). Focusing osteoarthritis management on modifiable risk factors and future therapeutic prospects. Therapeutic Advances in Musculoskeletal Diseases 1: 35-47 [Abstract]  
• Minas, T., Gomoll, A. H., Rosenberger, R., Royce, R. O., Bryant, T. (2009). Increased Failure Rate of Autologous Chondrocyte Implantation After Previous Treatment With Marrow Stimulation Techniques. Am J Sports Med 37: 902-908 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• MacGregor, A. J., Li, Q., Spector, T. D., Williams, F. M. K. (2009). The genetic influence on radiographic osteoarthritis is site specific at the hand, hip and knee. Rheumatology (Oxford) 48: 277-280 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Rauscher, I., Stahl, R., Cheng, J., Li, X., Huber, M. B., Luke, A., Majumdar, S., Link, T. M. (2008). Meniscal Measurements of T1{rho} and T2 at MR Imaging in Healthy Subjects and Patients with Osteoarthritis. Radiology 249: 591-600 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Aspden, R. M. (2008). Osteoarthritis: a problem of growth not decay?. Rheumatology (Oxford) 47: 1452-1460 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• McGonagle, D., Tan, A. L., Grainger, A. J., Benjamin, M. (2008). Heberden's nodes and what Heberden could not see: the pivotal role of ligaments in the pathogenesis of early nodal osteoarthritis and beyond. Rheumatology (Oxford) 47: 1278-1285 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• van der Esch, M, Steultjens, M, Harlaar, J, Wolterbeek, N, Knol, D, Dekker, J (2008). Varus-valgus motion and functional ability in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 67: 471-477 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Haugen, I K, Slatkowsky-Christensen, B, Orstavik, R, Kvien, T K (2007). Bone mineral density in patients with hand osteoarthritis compared to population controls and patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Ann Rheum Dis 66: 1594-1598 [Abstract] [Full Text]