Osteoarthritis of the knee at 3.0 T: comparison of a quantitative and a semi-quantitative score for the assessment of the extent of cartilage lesion and bone marrow edema pattern in a 24-month longitudinal study

Objective To compare a semi-quantitative and a quantitative morphological score for assessment of early osteoarthritis (OA) evolution. Materials and methods 3.0 T MRI of the knee was performed in 60 women, 30 with early OA (each 15 with Kellgren–Lawrence grade 2 and 3) and 30 age-matched controls at baseline and at 12 and 24 months. Pathological condition was assessed with the whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging score (WORMS). Cartilage abnormalities and bone marrow edema pattern (BMEP) were also quantified using a previously introduced morphological quantitative score. These data were correlated with changes in clinical parameters and joint space width using generalized estimation equations (GEE). Results At baseline, OA patients had significantly ( p