Osteoarthritis year in review 2018: imaging

Area of Science:

• Orthopedics
• Radiology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Osteoarthritis (OA) is a significant musculoskeletal condition.
• Medical imaging is crucial for understanding OA pathophysiology and progression.
• Recent research focuses on advanced imaging techniques for OA.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review original research on osteoarthritis imaging published in 2017-2018.
• To identify trends and key findings in OA imaging studies.
• To provide an overview for the OA research community.

Main Methods:

• PubMed database search for osteoarthritis and medical imaging articles (April 2017-March 2018).
• Exclusion of review articles, case studies, and non-human studies.
• Subjective sorting of relevant, novel, and impactful original publications.

Main Results:

• 1,155 references were initially identified.
• Radiography (708) and MRI (355) were the most common modalities.
• CT (220), ultrasound (85), and nuclear medicine (17) were also utilized.
• Quantitative MRI, texture analysis, and ultrasound show increasing value.
• Multi-modality predictive models and deep learning are emerging.

Conclusions:

• Imaging research significantly advances OA understanding.
• Radiography and MRI remain foundational, but advanced techniques are gaining traction.
• Future OA imaging research may leverage deep learning for automated analysis.