Detection and monitoring of progressive degeneration of osteoarthritic cartilage by MRI

Osteoarthritis (OA) results from a failure of cells within the joint to maintain the balance between synthesis and degradation of the extracellular matrix. OA is a major cause of pain and disability in the elderly yet there is at present no effective treatment to slow down or halt progressive loss of joint function. This is partly because the condition is heterogeneous with obscure pathogenesis but also because there are no specific laboratory tests or screening procedures that provide a specific diagnosis of early OA. There is a clear need to be able to define onset of characteristic pathological changes when intervention would be timely and to monitor the natural history up to the stage of radiologically detected damage.