Garry
Osteoarthritis
is a common form of arthritis that currently has no disease-modifying
treatment. Patients receive pain
medication until end-stage treatment with total joint replacement. Risk factors for osteoarthritis include
joint trauma, obesity, and malalignment.
Currently, clinical management of osteoarthritis and testing of new
treatments is done primarily using x-ray.
Recent advances in MRI have great potential to detect osteoarthritis
before irreversible changes in the joint have occurred. MRI can also image complications of joint
replacements. A review of osteoarthritis
and an assessment of the potential of MRI to improve treatment will be
presented.