Do rates of femorotibial cartilage loss in Kellgren-Lawrence 2 and 3 knees differ between those with mild-moderate vs. severe patellofemoral structural damage? – Data from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH cohorts

Roemer, FW; Jansen, M; Maschek, S; Mastbergen, S; Wisser, A; Weinans, HH; Blanco, FJ; Berenbaum, F; Kloppenburg, M; Haugen, IK; Hunter, DJ; Guermazi, A; Wirth, W

doi:10.1016/j.joca.2025.10.003

Do rates of femorotibial cartilage loss in Kellgren-Lawrence 2 and 3 knees differ between those with mild-moderate vs. severe patellofemoral structural damage? – Data from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH cohorts

Osteoarthritis CartilagePublished 12 Oct 2025Cohort study

Main finding · Medial FT cartilage loss by PF damage, within categories of baseline FT cartilage damageResultMean adjusted difference −0.128 mm 95% CI −0.238 to −0.018

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Study context

Population: Knees with Kellgren-Lawrence 2 and 3 from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH studies
Participants: 626 knees

Exposure: Knees with severe vs mild-moderate patellofemoral (PF) cartilage damage, and with vs without large PF bone marrow lesions (BMLs), within each category of baseline femorotibial (FT) cartilage damage
Outcome: Quantitative FT cartilage thickness loss (difference from baseline to follow-up in mean cartilage thickness in the medial and lateral FT joint), from manual segmentations
Follow-up: 24 months

Methodological detailsdata from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH cohorts, MRI MRI Osteoarthritis Knee Score (MOAKS) semiquantitative assessment, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) adjusted for age, sex and BMI

Data from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH cohorts
MRI MOAKS semiquantitative assessment
ANCOVA adjusted for age, sex and BMI

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

Medial FT cartilage loss by PF damage, within categories of baseline FT cartilage damage

Mean adjusted difference

−0.128 mm

95% CI −0.238 to −0.018

P = 0.023

No large PF BMLsvs Large PF BMLs

mean adjusted difference −0.128 mm (95% CI −0.238 to −0.018); P = 0.023

Observational data: associations, not effects.

Further findings

Baseline medial FT cartilage damage severity

Mild: 410 (65%) knees
Moderate: 92 (15%) knees
Severe: 124 (20%) knees

Reference

Authors: Roemer FW, Jansen M, Maschek S, Mastbergen S, Wisser A, Weinans HH, et al.
All 13 authors
Roemer FW, Jansen M, Maschek S, Mastbergen S, Wisser A, Weinans HH, Blanco FJ, Berenbaum F, Kloppenburg M, Haugen IK, Hunter DJ, Guermazi A, Wirth W
Journal: Osteoarthritis and Cartilage
Published: 12 Oct 2025
DOI: 10.1016/j.joca.2025.10.003
PubMed: 41086901

Topic: Osteoarthritis

Exposure definitions

Mild-moderate PF cartilage damage: PF cartilage damage defined as mild-moderate
Severe PF cartilage damage: PF cartilage damage defined as severe
Without large PF BMLs: absence of large BMLs
Large PF BMLs: presence of large BMLs

Key notes

For almost all categories of FT cartilage damage, difference in quantitative medial FT cartilage loss not statistically significant
Knees with moderate medial FT cartilage damage only; higher FT cartilage loss with large PF BMLs

Original publication

Do rates of femorotibial cartilage loss in Kellgren-Lawrence 2 and 3 knees differ between those with mild-moderate vs. severe patellofemoral structural damage? – Data from the FNIH and IMI-APPROACH cohorts. Osteoarthritis Cartilage. Published 12 October 2025. doi:10.1016/j.joca.2025.10.003

Read the original article ↗

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