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Updated: Aug 16, 2026

A Pre-Clinical Model of Synovitis Using Ex vivo Human Synovial Tissue with Preserved Function and Architecture
Published on: March 20, 2026
Further evidence that a cartilage-pannus junction synovitis predilection is not a specific feature of rheumatoid
L A Rhodes1, P G Conaghan, A Radjenovic
1Academic Unit of Medical Physics, University of Leeds, Wellcome Wing, Leeds General Infirmary, Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3EX, UK.
Background:
Qualitative differences in synovitis between the cartilage-pannus junction (CPJ) region and the adjoining suprapatellar pouch (SPP) have been reported in rheumatoid arthritis and the spondyloarthropathies.
Objective:
To determine if the distribution of synovitis is the same in osteoarthritis (OA) using sensitive measures of inflammation derived from dynamic, contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DEMRI).
Methods:
20 subjects with established OA of the knee were recruited. Conventional MR images together with the DEMRI measurements were obtained. Areas of synovitis at the CPJ region and at a distant site in the SPP were calculated; differences in CPJ and SPP synovitis were determined using DEMRI parameters: the initial rate of contrast enhancement (IRE) and maximal enhancement (ME).
Results:
The area of synovitis was significantly greater adjacent to the CPJ than in the SPP. IRE and ME measures were greater at the CPJ than the SPP.
Conclusions:
The magnitude of synovitis at the CPJ is not disease-specific and applies across the spectrum of degenerative disease as well as inflammatory diseases.
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