Dataset Information

Subchondral bone histology and grading in osteoarthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Osteoarthritis (OA) has often regarded as a disease of articular cartilage only. New evidence has shifted the paradigm towards a system biology approach, where also the surrounding tissue, especially bone is studied more vigorously. However, the histological features of subchondral bone are only poorly characterized in current histological grading scales of OA. The aim of this study is to specifically characterize histological changes occurring in subchondral bone at different stages of OA and propose a simple grading system for them.

Design

20 patients undergoing total knee replacement surgery were randomly selected for the study and series of osteochondral samples were harvested from the tibial plateaus for histological analysis. Cartilage degeneration was assessed using the standardized OARSI grading system, while a novel four-stage grading system was developed to illustrate the changes in subchondral bone. Subchondral bone histology was further quantitatively analyzed by measuring the thickness of uncalcified and calcified cartilage as well as subchondral bone plate. Furthermore, internal structure of calcified cartilage-bone interface was characterized utilizing local binary patterns (LBP) based method.

Results

The histological appearance of subchondral bone changed drastically in correlation with the OARSI grading of cartilage degeneration. As the cartilage layer thickness decreases the subchondral plate thickness and disorientation, as measured with LBP, increases. Calcified cartilage thickness was highest in samples with moderate OA.

Conclusion

The proposed grading system for subchondral bone has significant relationship with the corresponding OARSI grading for cartilage. Our results suggest that subchondral bone remodeling is a fundamental factor already in early stages of cartilage degeneration.

SUBMITTER: Aho OM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5358796 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Subchondral bone histology and grading in osteoarthritis.

Aho Olli-Matti OM Finnilä Mikko M Thevenot Jerome J Saarakkala Simo S Lehenkari Petri P

PloS one 20170320 3

<h4>Objective</h4>Osteoarthritis (OA) has often regarded as a disease of articular cartilage only. New evidence has shifted the paradigm towards a system biology approach, where also the surrounding tissue, especially bone is studied more vigorously. However, the histological features of subchondral bone are only poorly characterized in current histological grading scales of OA. The aim of this study is to specifically characterize histological changes occurring in subchondral bone at different ...[more]

PMID: 28319157

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Project description:BackgroundSubchondral bone cysts are a widely observed, but poorly understood, feature in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). Clinical quantitative computed tomography (QCT) has the potential to characterize cysts in vivo but it is unclear which specific cyst parameters (e.g., number, size) are associated with clinical signs of OA, such as disease severity or pain. The objective of this study was to use QCT-based image-processing techniques to characterize subchondral tibial cysts in patients with knee OA and to explore relationships between proximal tibial subchondral cyst parameters and subchondral bone density as well as clinical characteristics of OA (alignment, joint space narrowing (JSN), OA severity, pain) in patients with knee OA.MethodsThe preoperative knee of 42 knee arthroplasty patients was scanned using QCT. Patient characteristics were obtained, including OA severity, knee pain, JSN, and alignment. We used 3D image processing techniques to obtain cyst parameters including: cyst number, cyst number per proximal tibial volume, cyst volume per proximal tibial volume, as well as maximum and average cyst volume across the proximal tibia, as well as regional bone mineral density (BMD) excluding cysts. We used Spearman's correlation coefficients to explore associations between patient characteristics and cyst parameters.ResultsAt both the medial and lateral compartments of the proximal tibia, greater cyst number and volume were associated with higher BMD. At the lateral region, cyst number and volume were also associated with lateral OA severity, lateral JSN, alignment and sex. Pain was not associated with any cyst parameters at any region.ConclusionCyst number and volume were associated with BMD at both the medial and lateral compartments. Lateral cyst number and volume were also associated with joint alignment, OA severity, JSN and sex. This is the first study to use clinical QCT to explore subchondral tibial cysts in patients with knee OA and provides further evidence of the relationships between subchondral cysts and clinical OA characteristics.

Dataset Information

Subchondral bone histology and grading in osteoarthritis.

Objective

Design

Results

Conclusion

Publications

Subchondral bone histology and grading in osteoarthritis.

Similar Datasets

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