Sonographic evaluation of the medial aspect of the knee in a population-based cohort study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the medial aspect of the knee with ultrasound (US).

METHODS

This study included 71 men and 154 women (450 knees) with a mean age of 65 years. US was used to evaluate the medial joint space of both knees with and without weight-bearing. In each subject, the medial radial displacement of the medial meniscus, the peripheral joint space, and the number of osteophytes were evaluated. The subjects were stratified by age into five groups: 40-49 years, 50-59 years, 60-69 years, 70-79 years, and 80 years and older, and the US findings in each group were compared.

RESULTS

Statistically significant differences were noted between the 60-69 and over-80 age groups in medial radial displacements and peripheral joint spaces (p < 0.01 for both). The number of osteophytes significantly increased after 60 years of age (p < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

We believe that US is a useful tool for making a simple evaluation of the intra-articular components in population-based studies.