SYNOVITIS DETECTED BY ULTRASONOGRAPHY PREDICT THE RISK OF DEVELOPING KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN EARLY KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS FROM THE IWAKI COHORT STUDY

Purpose: Early diagnosis and intervention for knee osteoarthritis (OA) are important. The prevalence of abnormalities detected on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), such as bone marrow lesions, meniscal lesions, and synovitis, were higher in the knees with early knee OA (EKOA) than those with normal knees. Among these abnormalities, synovitis has been reported to be a trigger of cartilage degeneration. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of synovitis on progression of knee OA in participants without radiographic abnormalities.