Medial meniscus extrusion is invariably observed and consistent with tibial osteophyte width in elderly populations: The Bunkyo Health Study

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 22805 - 10
• Main Authors: Negishi, Yoshifumi, Kaneko, Haruka, Aoki, Takako, Liu, Lizu, Adili, Arepati, Arita, Hitoshi, Hada, Shinnosuke, Momoeda, Masahiro, Huang, Hui, Tomura, Jun, Wakana, Suguru, Shiozawa, Jun, Kubota, Mitsuaki, Someya, Yuki, Tamura, Yoshifumi, Aoki, Shigeki, Watada, Hirotaka, Kawamori, Ryuzo, Negishi-Koga, Takako, Okada, Yasunori, Ishijima, Muneaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 20.12.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 692/4023/1670/407; 692/699/1670/407; Bone imaging; Cartilage; Cartilage diseases; Correlation coefficient; Humanities and Social Sciences; Knee; Magnetic resonance imaging; Meniscus; multidisciplinary; Older people; Osteoarthritis; Osteophytes; Population studies; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49868-7

We reported that the full-length width of medial tibial osteophytes comprising cartilage and bone parts correlates with medial meniscus extrusion (MME) in early-stage knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, no data exist on the prevalence of MME and its relationship with osteophytes in the elderly population. 1191 elderly individuals (females 57%; 72.9 years old on average) in the Bunkyo Health Study underwent standing plain radiograph and proton density-weighted MRI on knee joints. MRI-detected OA changes were evaluated according to the Whole-Organ Magnetic Resonance Imaging Score. A new method of assessing the cartilage and bone parts of osteophytes was developed using pseudo-coloring images of proton density-weighted fat-suppressed MRI. Most subjects showed Kellgren-Lawrence grade 1 or 2 radiographic medial knee OA (88.1%), MME (98.7%, 3.90 ± 2.01 mm), and medial tibial osteophytes (99.3%, 3.27 ± 1.50 mm). Regarding OA changes, MME was closely associated with the full-length width of medial tibial osteophytes (β = 1.114; 95% CI 1.069–1.159; p  < 0.001) in line with osteophyte width (intraclass correlation coefficient, 0.804; 95% CI 0.783–0.823). Our data revealed that MME and medial tibial osteophytes are observed in the elderly and demonstrate that the degree of MME is consistent with the full-length width of medial tibial osteophytes, suggesting that osteophytes might be implicated in MME.