Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2014 Nov;40(4):699-710.
doi: 10.1016/j.rdc.2014.07.012. Epub 2014 Sep 12.

Identifying and treating preclinical and early osteoarthritis

David T Felson  1 , Richard Hodgson  2
Affiliations
Review

Identifying and treating preclinical and early osteoarthritis

David T Felson et al. Rheum Dis Clin North Am. 2014 Nov.

Abstract

Studies suggest that many persons with painful osteoarthritis already have extensive structural disease including malalignment, which may preclude successful stabilization or reversal of disease; this provides a strong rationale for developing strategies to prevent disease or to identify and treat it early. This article reviews a variety of approaches likely to capture those at high risk of or with early disease. However, given the absence of effective treatments, it is unclear whether structural disease could be successfully slowed or prevented in those with early symptoms or at high risk of disease.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Knee pain; Magnetic resonance imaging; Osteoarthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Source of Joint Damage by Stage of Osteoarthritis Development
Figure 2
Figure 2
Different frontal plane alignments. Varus and Valgus alignments increase stress across medial and lateral knee compartments respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Murray CJ, Vos T, Lozano R, Naghavi M, Flaxman AD, Michaud C, et al. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 291 diseases and injuries in 21 regions, 1990-2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2010. Lancet. 2012 Dec 15;380(9859):2197–223. - PubMed
    1. Sharma L, Chmiel JS, Almagor O, Felson D, Guermazi A, Roemer F, et al. The role of varus and valgus alignment in the initial development of knee cartilage damage by MRI: the MOST study. Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Feb;72(2):235–40. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neogi T, Bowes M, Niu J, De SK, Vincent G, Goggins J, et al. MRI-based three-dimensional bone shape of the knee predicts onset of knee osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Arthritis Rheum. 2013 May 3;65:2048–58. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Neogi T, Frey-Law L, Scholz J, Niu J, rendt-Nielsen L, Woolf C, et al. Sensitivity and sensitisation in relation to pain severity in knee osteoarthritis: trait or state? Ann Rheum Dis. 2013 Dec 18; - PMC - PubMed
    1. Englund M, Guermazi A, Gale D, Felson DT. Incidental meniscal findings on knee MRI in middle aged and elderly persons in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2008;359(11):1108–15. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types