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. 2012 Nov;20(11):1227-33.
doi: 10.1016/j.joca.2012.07.020. Epub 2012 Aug 5.

Knee malalignment is associated with an increased risk for incident and enlarging bone marrow lesions in the more loaded compartments: the MOST study

D Hayashi  1 , M Englund, F W Roemer, J Niu, L Sharma, D T Felson, M D Crema, M D Marra, N A Segal, C E Lewis, M C Nevitt, A Guermazi
Affiliations

Knee malalignment is associated with an increased risk for incident and enlarging bone marrow lesions in the more loaded compartments: the MOST study

D Hayashi et al. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. 2012 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationship of knee malalignment with occurrence of incident and enlarging bone marrow lesions (BMLs) and regression of BMLs.

Methods: Subjects from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study aged 50-79 years with or at high risk of knee osteoarthritis were studied. Full-limb radiographs were taken at baseline and hip-knee-ankle mechanical axis was measured. Baseline and 30-month magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of knees (n = 1782) were semiquantitatively assessed for BMLs. Outcome was defined as a change in BML score in femoral/tibial condyle in medial/lateral compartments. Medial compartment in varus alignment and lateral compartment in valgus alignment were combined to form 'more loaded' compartment, while lateral compartment in valgus and medial compartment in varus were combined to form 'less loaded' compartment. Relative risk (RR) of BML score increase or decrease in relation to malalignment was estimated using a log linear regression model with the Poisson assumption, adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, physical activity scale for the elderly, race and clinic site. Further, results were stratified by ipsilateral meniscal and cartilage status at baseline.

Results: Baseline varus alignment was associated with higher risk of BML score increase from baseline to follow-up in the medial compartment [adjusted RRs (95%CI): 1.5 (1.2-1.9)] and valgus alignment in the lateral compartment [1.4 (1.0-2.1)]. Increase in BML score was more likely in the more loaded compartments [1.7 (1.4-2.0)] in malaligned knees. Regardless of ipsilateral cartilage or meniscus status, adjusted RR for BML score increase was higher in the more loaded compartments of malaligned knees than those with neutral alignment. Decrease in BML score was less likely in the more loaded compartments in malaligned knees [0.8 (0.7-1.0)].

Conclusion: Knee malalignment is associated with increased risk of incident and enlarging BMLs in the more loaded compartments of the tibiofemoral joint.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests

Ali Guermazi received consulting fees from Genzyme, Norvartis, AstraZeneca, Merck Serono and Stryker. He is the President of Boston Imaging Core Lab (BICL), LLC. Frank Roemer is the CMO of BICL and received consulting fees from Merck Serono and National Institute of Health. Michel Crema and Monica Marra are shareholders of BICL. Other authors declared nothing to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart showing the subject inclusion criteria.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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