A controlled longitudinal study of knee cartilage volume if the offspring of subjects with osteoarthritis of the knee.

在澳大利亚，骨关节炎是导致肌肉骨骼残疾和医疗费用的最常见原因。遗传和环境因素都被认为是这种疾病的原因。然而，到目前为止，还没有得到证实的预防这种非常常见的疾病的战略，对已确定的疾病的治疗也不令人满意。造成这种情况的部分原因是，没有对早期疾病进行敏感和准确的测量。在这项研究中，我们计划通过磁共振成像来评估膝关节软骨体积。这是一个既准确又敏感的有前途的新候选人。我们将对因骨关节炎接受膝关节置换手术的患者的后代进行横向和纵向的膝关节体积测量，并将它们与随机选择的对照组进行比较，看看膝关节体积是否可以用作早期或无症状疾病的标志，特别是在确定哪些治疗方法可能有效预防晚年骨关节炎方面。

Osteoarthritis is the most common cause of musculoskeletal disability and cost in Australia. Both genetic and environmental factors have been implicated as causes of this disease. As yet, however, there are no proven strategies for prevention of this very common condition and treatment of established disease is unsatisfactory. Part of the reason for this is the fact that there is no sensitive and accurate measure of early disease. In this study, we plan to evaluate knee cartilage volume assessed by magnetic resonance imaging. This is a promising new candidate which is both accurate and sensitive. We will be measuring knee volume both cross-sectionally and longitudinally in the offspring of patients who have had knee replacement for osteoarthritis and comparing them to randomly selected controls to see if knee volume can be utilised as a marker of early or asymptomatic disease particularly in identifying which treatments may be effective at preventing osteoarthritis in later life.