Hyperintensity alteration in prefemoral fat pad predicts patellofemoral structural degradation in older adults: data from the osteoarthritis initiative

Purpose: To describe the associations between prefemoral fat pad (PFP) hyperintensity alteration at baseline and patellofemoral structural degradation in older adults. Methods: A convenience sample of 708 subjects (mean 60.3 years, 67.2% female) from incident osteoarthritis (OA) cohort of the Pivotal Osteoarthritis Initiative MR Imaging Analyses (POMA) study was studied at baseline and only 540 were followed up with MRI over 2 years. Sagittal intermediate-weighted (IW) fat-saturated 2D turbo spin-echo (TSE) sequence images were used to assess the presence of PFP hyperintensity alteration at baseline. Baseline and 24-month semi-quantitative MRI Osteoarthritis Knee Score (MOAKS) variables for cartilage morphology and bone marrow lesions (BMLs) were measured. Results: At baseline, PFP hyperintensity alteration was significantly associated with the presence of patellar and lateral trochlear cartilage damage as well as the presence of patellar BMLs after adjustment for age, BMI, gender, injury, surgery, knee alignment, contralateral knee radiographic status and case control status (Table 1). Longitudinally, baseline PFP hyperintensity alteration was significantly associated with worsening in lateral trochlear cartilage damage as well as lateral patellar, medial and lateral trochlear BMLs in multivariable analyses (Table 1). Conclusions: PFP hyperintensity alteration at baseline was associated with patellofemoral structural degradation cross-sectionally and longitudinally in older adults, suggesting that it may serve as an important imaging biomarker in patellofemoral osteoarthritis.View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)View Large Image Figure ViewerDownload Hi-res image Download (PPT)