Osteoarthritis and cartilage
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · Jan 2005
Viability and volume of in situ bovine articular chondrocytes-changes following a single impact and effects of medium osmolarity.
Mechanical stress above the physiological range can profoundly influence articular cartilage causing matrix damage, changes to chondrocyte metabolism and cell injury/death. It has also been implicated as a risk factor in the development of osteoarthritis (OA). The mechanism of cell damage is not understood, but chondrocyte volume could be a determinant of the sensitivity and subsequent response to load. For example, in OA, it is possible that the chondrocyte swelling that occurs renders the cells more sensitive to the damaging effects of mechanical stress. This study had two aims: (1) to investigate the changes to the volume and viability of in situ chondrocytes near an injury to cartilage resulting from a single blunt impact, and (2) to determine if alterations to chondrocyte volume at the time of impact influenced cell viability. ⋯ A single impact caused temporal and spatial changes to in situ chondrocyte viability with cell shrinkage occurring in the majority of cells. However, chondrocyte shrinkage by raising medium osmolarity at the time of impact protected the cells from injury, whereas swollen chondrocytes were markedly more sensitive. These data showed that chondrocyte volume could be an important determinant of the sensitivity and response of in situ chondrocytes to mechanical stress.
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · Nov 2004
Multicenter Study Clinical TrialResponsiveness of the electronic touch screen WOMAC 3.1 OA Index in a short term clinical trial with rofecoxib.
The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities (WOMAC) Osteoarthritis Index is a self-administered validated questionnaire for patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee. The electronic touch screen version of the WOMAC (e-WOMAC) has been previously shown to be highly correlated with the original paper format. However, whether the e-WOMAC would be suitable for monitoring the effects of drug treatment is unknown. ⋯ In this longitudinal intervention study, the e-WOMAC OA Index 3.1 showed similar responsiveness in detecting clinically meaningful changes than the original paper format.
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · Aug 2004
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical TrialEfficacy and safety of a single intra-articular injection of non-animal stabilized hyaluronic acid (NASHA) in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
Non-animal stabilized hyaluronic acid (NASHA) is a novel hyaluronan (HA) preparation with a 4-week intra-articular half-life. This study compared the efficacy of a single injection of NASHA with placebo in patients with osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. ⋯ NASHA was not superior to placebo for the primary efficacy analysis. However, these data may be confounded by the inclusion of patients with OA at other sites, as significant benefits over placebo were found among patients with OA confined to the knee. Future trials of OA that examine a local therapy might need to consider restricting the study population to those patients having OA of only the signal joint.
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · May 2004
Multicenter StudyTwo knees or not two knees? Patient costs and outcomes following bilateral and unilateral total knee joint replacement surgery for OA.
This study aims to address medical and non-medical direct costs and health outcomes of bilateral and unilateral total knee replacement from the patients' perspective during the first year post-surgery. ⋯ Patients undergoing bilateral TKR and unilateral TKR had a similar length of stay in hospital and similar out-of-pocket expenditures. Bilateral replacement patients reported better physical function and general health with fewer health care visits one year post procedure. Patients requiring bilateral TKR have some additional information to aid their decision making. While their risk of peri-operative complications is higher, they have an excellent chance of good health outcomes at 12 months and are not going to be doubly "out-of-pocket" for the experience.
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Osteoarthr. Cartil. · Apr 2004
Site specific changes in gene expression and cartilage metabolism during early experimental osteoarthritis.
To characterize the molecular events underlying cartilage injury in the early phase of mono-iodoacetate-induced osteoarthritis (OA) in rats. ⋯ Time-dependent degradation of cartilage after injection of low dose of MIA (0.03mg) into rat knee joint can be related to early loss of proteoglycan anabolism, increased gelatinase activities and expression of IL1beta and downstream inflammatory genes. Increased susceptibility to MIA in weight-bearing areas of cartilage further indicate that MIA-induced experimental OA is a relevant model to study not only metabolical but also biomechanical aspects of human OA.