A new study conducted by researchers in the United Kingdom suggests that doctors can use lesions found in the bone marrow of osteoarthritis (OA) patients to identify how fast their condition is progressing.
Researchers from the University of Southampton discovered that lesions, which are abnormalities in the tissue of organisms visible through magnetic resonance imaging scans, can be used to determine whether a person is likely to develop a degenerative joint disease such as osteoarthritis.
OA is considered to be the most common type of arthritis, afflicting millions of patients around the world. The condition primarily affects the cartilage found on the ends of bones in a joint, in which it causes the joints to become painfully stiff and swollen.
People suffering from OA can experience pain and swelling in any joint. However, joints that often bear weight such as the knees, hips, back and hands are the ones that are usually affected by this degenerative disease.
"Osteoarthritis causes a significant burden to individuals and the healthcare system as a whole," Mark Edwards, the study lead and a lecturer at Southampton's MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit and lead investigator of the study, said.
Bone Marrow Lesions
In their study, which is featured in The Journal of Rheumatology, Edwards and his colleagues examined data collected from the SEKOIA study, a three-year international trial looking into how the OA disease can be modified.
The team studied MRI scans of knees of 176 male and female participants who are beyond 50 years old. The participants then underwent follow-up sessions with the researchers over a three-year period that involved having their knees checked regularly through X-rays.
To find out how the lesions affect OA progression, the team compared the MRI scans of the participants with known abnormalities on their knees at the beginning of the study with those of individuals without any abnormality or damage.
Edwards and his team discovered that study participants who had lesions on their bone marrow suffered from a more rapidly worsening case of OA compared to the rest of the group who did not show such abnormalities in their MRI scans.
Upon closer inspection, the researchers saw that individuals with bone marrow lesions had lost the space within their knee joint at an annual rate of 0.10 mm faster compared to those with no abnormalities or damage on their bone marrow.
The researchers believe that they may be able to help doctors and patients if they can successfully identify individuals who are more likely to develop rapidly progressing OA.
Edwards and his team are now planning to study the different mechanisms on how lesions on bone marrow might impact the development of OA, which they hope could lead to a novel therapy for the condition.
Symptoms Of Osteoarthritis
People who suffer from OA may show varying symptoms of the disease, depending on which specific joints are affected and how badly they are affected.
Most common signs and symptoms of OA are the following:
1. Patients may experience pain in affected joints during or after doing some physical activity.
2. Patients may feel tenderness of affected areas, especially when light pressure is applied to them.
3. Joints damaged by OA feel stiff, which is most noticeable when patients wake up in the morning. Stiffness may also occur when afflicted individuals stayed inactive for a considerable period.
4. Patients may find it difficult to move their joints through their full range of motion because of OA.
5. Moving affected joints may result in a grating sensation in the part of OA sufferers.
6. Bone spurs, which are small pieces of bones, may form around affected joints.
OA patients are advised to consult their doctor if the stiffness or joint pain does not subside within a few weeks.
Photo: Steven Depolo | Flickr
