Ligaments Linked to Knee Osteoarthrosis

Abnormalities in the ligaments on the outside of the knee can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging for those with knee osteoarthrosis, says a U.S. study.

Researchers from The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia studied 96 patients, 51 with knee osteoarthrosis and 44 with knee pain following an injury and no history of knee osteoarthrosis who underwent MRI.

The patients were graded on the severity of knee osteoarthrosis on radiographs and the severity of abnormalities of the lateral collateral ligament complex components on MRI, said lead author Dr. Yung-Hsin Chen, of Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Abnormalities in the outside knee ligaments were identified in 88 percent of patients with osteoarthrosis, compared with 12 percent of patients without osteoarthrosis.

The findings were presented at the American Roentgen Ray Society’s annual meeting in Orlando, Fla.